Sincerely, Me
by simplemusings12
Summary: Spike unexpectedly discovers he has a thirteen-year-old daughter who has spent the last year of her life in an abusive foster home. They begin their journey as a family, which consists of many surprises around the corner for the both of them; good and bad. This is their story. ***TWELFTH CHAPTER UP NOW.
1. Introduction

Summary: Follow the journal entries of Carly: a girl who has lost her mother, was thrown into the foster care system, and is looking for her father. Will she be able to find the family that she needs?

A/N: Hello readers! I give you this. I'm on Christmas break right now for a while, so I'm hoping to be able to write quite a bit before heading back to school on January 13. This is set before Lew and Spike's Dad dies… I'm gonna try to work that in to my story in future chapters. I don't know the exact dates of when they die, so just go with what I've got. Thanks, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Flashpoint

**Introduction:**

_May 17, 2010_

_Dear Journal,_

_One year ago today, mom died. I miss her so much. She was my best friend and the only family that I knew. Some nights I just cry myself to sleep, asking whatever Deity that would listen if I could find my Dad. I don't know where he is, and I don't even know where to begin looking for him. There's something in me that knows my Dad out there somewhere, maybe even looking for me. But if he's not, I'm holding on to the hope that if I do find him; he'll want to be with me, too. _

_~ Carly_


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: I caved and posted early. I'm developing the plot as I go along and it is ever changing. But nonetheless, here's Chapter 1!**

**Disclaimer: I'm in love with Flashpoint. And Spike. (oh and one more thing – I have no idea where Spike's house is in relative position to the station, so just go with it.)**

Chapter One – Finding My Way

Spike groaned as he rolled over and hit snooze on the alarm clock for what seemed to be the hundredth time. He knew that he would be in trouble if he missed team workout this morning, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He was just _so damn tired. _

Forcing himself out of bed, Spike stumbled towards the direction of his closet. After putting on his gym clothes, brushing his teeth, and grabbing a couple granola bars and his keys, he went to head to the station.

His car sputtered and coughed, and then, nothing. Spike slammed his hand against the steering wheel with the realization that his car battery was dead. He looked as his watch and decided to just run to the station. It was only a mile away and would probably take less time than trying to get someone over here to pick him up.

He started running towards the station on the nearly abandoned sidewalks, with the exception of people who were probably headed to open the bakeries and coffee shops before the morning rush began. He rounded a corner and ran right into someone. Said person tried to spin to get out of the way, but to no avail, she ended up on her back on the pavement.

Spike bent down to help her up. "Oh my god. I'm so sorry. Are you alright?"

"I'm okay. Just slow down next time!" She said teasingly.

"I'm Michelangelo, but most people call me Spike. My car wouldn't start this morning so I'm running to work instead. What's your name?" he said, shaking her hand.

"Carly. Nice to meet you, although would have been better if you didn't plow me to the ground first." She teased.

"I am really sorry about that. Look, I'm already late for work so I really have to get going. But, maybe I'll see you around sometime."

"It's all good. See you."

Spike jogged off toward the station again, feeling bad about knocking that girl over. He made it to the station, a half hour late, and tried to sneak in without Greg seeing him.

"Spike, you are now a half hour late. Mind telling me why?" Greg asked. Spike didn't even see him come up beside him.

"Sorry, boss. I got up late this morning, and then my car wouldn't start so I ran here, and to top it all off I plowed a teenage girl over, making me more late than I already was. It won't happen again." He said.

"Don't let it. Go, get to work." Greg said, slapping Spike on the back and pointing him in the direction of the gym.

Carly sat in her homeroom, sipping her coffee that she picked up this morning before school. She giggled remembering the man that plowed her over.

"Alright class, listen up. New assignment." The teacher began. "In this hat are the names of various businesses and careers that you will be going to to interview someone that works there. You are to pick one slip of paper, and by next week you are to turn in this piece of paper with their answers to the questions."

Carly opened her paper. It read, "Strategic Response Unit." She was excited. Carly was considering becoming a cop one day, hoping to make it to the SRU.

The teacher spoke again. "Don't wait until the last minute to go to your interviews. All these locations have been contacted and are expecting someone to come. Any questions? Good. Class dismissed."

After the rest of her classes were finished, she decided to head on over to the SRU headquarters to get her interview over and done with so she wouldn't have to worry about it the rest of the week.

She walked in the front doors and was looking at her instruction sheet and ran head first into someone's back.

She looked up and began apologizing, but started laughing instead.

"We have to stop meeting like this, Spike." Spike looked somewhat stunned but recovered quickly.

"Carly, right? What are you doing here?" Spike said, walking in with her.

"Have to do a school interview. Here." She said, handing him her assignment sheet.

After a few seconds of silence, she spoke again. "I didn't know that you worked for the SRU. That's awesome!"

"Yup. That would be me." Spike said.

"Can I interview you for my assignment?"

"Sure." Spike said. "Want to go meet the rest of the team?"

Carly nodded and followed Spike into the conference room where the rest of the team had just finished debriefing for the day.

"Alright. Team. This is Carly. She was the one that I plowed over running to work this morning. Now she's here for a school assignment, not even knowing that I worked here.

"This is Boss-Man Greg. He's the sergeant for this team. This is Ed, our fearless team leader. This is Sam, our ex-military-gone-cop man. Nice guy. This is Lew. He's…uh… and Jules, the only girl on the team."

She moved slightly behind Spike whenever she saw Ed. She felt her heart rate increase and a panic attack coming. Spike seemed to notice this and asked her what was wrong.

"The bald guy, Ed. He looks a lot like my foster Dad. Can we get outta here?" She whispered.

Spike nodded and pointed her in the direction of one of the other conference rooms that they could use. He shrugged his shoulders at the rest of the team and gave a small wave before following Carly into the other conference room.

"Sorry about that. He just… I… he looked like one of my foster Dad's." Spike nodded in understanding.

"Anyways, so the interview." She said, clearing her throat, changing the topic.

"Ah, yes." Spike replied, sitting at the table.

"What do you do?" she asked, pulling out her sheet of paper with assignment on it.

"We respond to dangerous situations, such as someone holding another at gun or knife point, sometimes a bomb threat. We first try to talk them down, then if that doesn't work…. we explore … other options." Spike said delicately, not wanting to tell her that if it doesn't work then they may end up having to kill the person who is holding another at gunpoint. Yes, she is doing this interview for school, but she doesn't look much older than thirteen or fourteen, so he didn't want to scare her.

She nodded, taking a few notes. "What is your role on the team?"

"I am the techy guy on the team." Spike said with a smile. "I mostly stay in the command truck, communicating important information to the others on the team that go into the field. I also diffuse bombs, which is my favorite part of the job."

"What is the most rewarding part of your job?" Carly asked.

"Whenever you save someone's life, especially if it's a kid. When you're trying to talk to the subject, the person with the gun or the knife, and they have a kid they're holding hostage, it's more difficult because you know that they have their whole life ahead of them. So when they get to live another day, it's really exciting." Spike said.

"And what's the worst part of your job?"

"The opposite. Losing someone, whether it is the hostage or the subject. Any time, no matter the situation, losing a life is hard." He replied.

After he said that, Carly's cell phone started ringing. Spike didn't miss the fear that flashed in her eyes when she looked at the caller ID. Spike didn't know her very well, but he could read people really well. They had to be able to when working for the SRU.

"Uh, sorry." She said, hands trembling as she answered the phone. She stood up and turned her back to Spike. He could only hear some of what she was saying.

"Hi, Mr. Johnston… working on a school project… thought you were still away… I'm sorry… won't happen again… please, Mr. Johnston….I'm sorry…. coming…" Carly ended the call quickly and hesitated a moment before Spike noticed her swiping at a tear before gathering her stuff up.

"Um… thank you so much, Spike. See you around." She turned to leave but Spike grabbed her arm. He didn't miss her flinch.

"Carly, is everything all right?" he asked, looking into her misty eyes.

She gave him a tight smile in return. "Fine. I just really have to go."

Carly went to turn to leave again but Spike stopped her, being more careful.

"Look, I know that I just met you. But, if you ever need help with anything, someone to talk to, the door is always open. And if someone is hurting you, me and the team will do everything we can to make sure that you are safe." Spike said.

"You really mean that?" she said. Carly was touched. Since her mom died, no one has been extremely kind to her like Spike just was.

Spike nodded. "I really do. Take care of yourself, Carly."

"Thanks, Spike. Maybe I'll take you up on that offer someday." She gave him a grateful smile, and then turned and hurried out the door.

_May 18, 2012_

_Dear Journal,_

_I met someone today. Twice, actually. When I was walking to get coffee this morning, someone ran around the corner and knocked me over. And then later, I had to go to the SRU station and interview one of the cops there for a school report, and saw the same guy there again. _

_His name is Spike. Mr. Thompson called me when I was there and I kind of freaked out. I'm guessing he noticed that something was wrong because when I went to leave he told me that he would help out in any way that he could. He seems different than most of the other people I've met in my life, I just can't put a finger on it. _

_I might take him up on that offer. I got hurt again because I was late from going to the SRU station. I don't like it when Mr. Thompson hurts me. It's just not fair. _

_Tomorrow I'm going to go back and talk to Spike. Maybe he can help. _

_Looking for the light at the end of the tunnel,_

_Carly_

**A/N: No, I didn't get 20 followers, but maybe I'll come close. Let me know what you think of the chapter and if you have any ideas of where you would like this story to go. Merry Christmas, everyone!**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks to **_**Ealasaid Una **_**for pointing out a mistake in the last chapter.. Carly's foster Dad's name is Mr. Johnston, not Mr. Thompson. What happened is I was watching TV when I was writing that chapter and there was a Mr. Thompson in that. I must have heard it and wrote that instead of "Johnston". Oops.**

**There were also supposed to be page breaks in the last chapter, but for some reason they didn't show up on the Fanfiction site. Bah-humbug.**

**Disclaimer: I'm obsessed with Flashpoint. Mentions of abuse and violence. **

**Chapter Two**

Spike couldn't get what happened yesterday out of his mind. The way that she reacted whenever she got the phone call from Mr. Johnston was, to him, obvious fear.

Spike had seen too many situations in his days as a cop within the foster care system that makes him terrified for anyone to be put in that situation, especially a teenage girl.

Coming up with a plan in his mind, he went to talk to Greg.

"Spike. What's up buddy? You got something on your mind?" Greg asked, noticing Spike's concerned face.

"Yeah. Remember Carly, the girl that came in to the station yesterday?" Greg nodded.

"Well right after she was done asking me a couple questions for her school project, her phone rang, and when she answered the phone, I noticed that fear flashed over her face." Greg led him over to a couch where they both sat down.

"And then, when she took the call, I couldn't hear what the man was saying, but he sounded pissed. She sounded scared and started to run off, and then flinched when I grabbed her arm to stop her. I think she's being abused, Greg, and it makes me angry." Spike said, fists clenched in his pockets so that Greg wouldn't see them and forbid him to go.

"So what do you want to do about it?" Greg asked.

"Look her up, find out where she lives, and then take Jules with me over there to investigate." Greg nodded.

"Just be careful. If you're right, men like her foster Dad won't hesitate to do whatever is necessary to make sure that he doesn't get caught. Understand?" Greg said. Spike nodded.

"Thanks, Boss. I'll be careful."

After asking Winnie to look her up and get an address, Spike set out to find Jules. After explaining the situation to her, she agreed, and they both left to get their gear on.

Spike discovered that Carly lives only two streets over from where he lives. The closer they got to Carly's house, the more freaked out he became. He had only known Carly for a couple of days, but there was something about her that made him more concerned than he normally would be.

Jules patted his shoulder as they approached the front door. Spike took a reassuring breath as he stepped on the front porch. Suddenly, he heard a man shouting, followed by the sound of glass breaking. Pounding on the door, he yelled for them to open the door.

Spike looked to Jules, who was mirroring his own concerned face. He nervously bit his lower lip, and as he was about to pound on the door again, but he heard a gunshot. While Jules called for backup, Spike took a few steps back and then kicked the door down, determined to get inside.

When he got inside, this is what he observed: Carly was slumped against the wall with a gash in her head, and blood flowing from her shoulder, which is what Spike assumed was a gunshot wound.

Mr. Johnston was standing over her, gun in hand, but it was pointed at the ground. He turned toward Spike, who was aiming his own gun on him. Jules was entering the house right behind him, both shouting that they were the SRU and he needed to put his gun down.

It seemed that Mr. Johnston realized that he was caught, and lifted his arms above his head and put the gun on safety in one simultaneous motion.

They both approached him, guns still trained on him, as Jules took the gun from his hands and shoved him to his knees on the ground.

"We need an EMT here NOW!" Spike yelled into his radio as he kneeled next to Carly, pulling her head onto his lap and putting pressure on her shoulder.

"Spike." He heard Carly whisper. "What happened?"

"It looks like your foster dad got mad. I'm assuming that he smashed this over your head and then shot you in the shoulder, from what I could tell. It looks like a through and through wound, so you should be okay. An EMT is going to be here any minute." Spike wasn't exactly sure what he was saying, because on the inside he was freaking out with the realization that if he was even a minute later than he was, she would probably be dead.

About two minutes later, he heard sirens in the distance. Recognizing them as being that of the rest of his team, he moved to stand outside to show them where they were, but Carly made a weak attempt to grab at his arm.

After hissing at the pain, momentarily forgetting about the wound in her shoulder, she whispered to Spike again.

"Please don't go." She said.

Spike nodded and readjusted her head in his lap. It tore him up on the inside to think of how someone could ever hurt someone so young.

"Don't fall asleep." Spike said, getting desperate. He knew that she was in a lot of pain, and he felt completely helpless. He just kept putting pressure on her gunshot wound, trying to slow the bleeding down.

The rest of Team One came filing into the room.

Jules explained everything that happened to Greg and Ed, at which point Ed yanked Mr. Johnston off the ground and took him outside to put him in the back of a police car to arrest him.

A couple minutes later, the EMTs arrived and put Carly on a stretcher. After gaining permission from Greg, Spike rode with them to the hospital. Sometime on the way there, Carly passed out, either from blood loss or head trauma.

When they arrived at the hospital, the paramedics rushed her inside while Spike paced nervously in the waiting room.

The snooty nurse at the front desk kept asking him to sit down, but that only lasted a minute or two before he started pacing again.

"Have you heard anything about Carly Stanton?" he asked the nurse at the front desk.

"Are you family?" she asked, glaring at Spike over the top of her glasses.

"No, but I'm SRU." He replied, getting more and more impatient.

"I'll send a doctor out to talk to you." She said, not bothering to look Spike in the eye.

Spike nodded and resumed his pacing in the waiting room.

A few minutes later, he heard someone call for the family of Carly Stanton.

Spike turned and walked over to the doctor. Holding out his hand, he introduced himself.

"I'm Dr. Matherlee. I'll take you to her room." Spike nodded and followed the doctor, a man who looked to be in his forties, with salt and pepper hair, standing about the same height as Spike.

"She suffered a mild concussion, and the gunshot wound was through and through. It didn't hit any vital organs, but she'll be sore for a while. She needs to keep it in a sling for a couple weeks so she doesn't risk popping a stitch.

"I also took some X-rays because of the extensive bruising on her torso, arms, and legs. She has one cracked rib that has already started to heal, but we'll have to follow protocol and ask her questions about her past and abuse." Spike nodded, feeling nausea build inside him, but swallowed to keep it down.

"Carly looks worse than she really is. I want to keep her over night for observation, but she should be ready to go tomorrow. Is there someone she can stay with? I understand her foster dad has been arrested."

Spike nodded. "She has a place to stay." He said, without really thinking about it. He figured that she could stay with him and his parents for a few days until they could figure out what step to take next.

"Good. Any questions you have for me?" Dr. Matherlee asked.

"Um…" Spike said, clearing his throat, "Was she...?"

"No." Dr. Matherlee said, understanding what Spike was trying to ask. We took a few swab samples and there's no evidence of her being sexually abused.

Spike let out the breath that he wasn't aware he was holding. Dr. Matherlee gave him a sympathetic smile and patted his arm before disappearing down the hall, leaving Spike outside of Carly's room.

He took another calming breath and quietly opened the door. Carly was sleeping, so Spike slowly walked next to her bed and pulled up a chair and sat down, resting his elbows on his knees.

About an hour later, Greg entered the room, giving Spike a small smile.

"What did the doctor say?" Greg asked, pulling up a chair next to Spike.

"Mild concussion, minimal damage due to the gunshot wound, cracked rib, and extensive bruising on her torso, legs, and arms." Spike said, giving Greg a sad smile.

Greg sighed and rubbed a hand down his face, something he did when he was stressed out. "How long are they going to keep her here for?"

"Just tonight for observation." Spike paused a moment, finalizing his plan in his head.

"The doctor said that she needed a place to stay. And since her foster dad has been arrested, and her foster mom is dead, apparently, I told him that she could stay with me and my parents until we can figure out what step we need to take next."

Greg nodded, knowing that there wasn't any use in arguing with Spike. Once he made up his mind, there was no changing it. Spike was stubborn in that way.

"Alright." He said. "I'll go get the paperwork for you." Greg squeezed his shoulder as he stood to leave.

Spike was thinking about what step they would need to take next. The thought of adopting Carly popped into his mind, but he knew that there was no way the courts would allow it unless he was a blood relative.

He didn't want to send Carly into the foster system again. After her experience with the Johnston's, he assumed that she wouldn't want to go that route either.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Carly stirring next to him. He leaned forward and waited for her to open her eyes, and she slowly did.

She looked around the room, confused for a couple seconds until realization dawned on her face when she remembered what had happened earlier that day.

She looked over to her side when she realized someone was sitting next to her bed. Spike gave her a warming smile, but she didn't miss the worry that was in his eyes.

"I'm sorry… Spike." she cried, turning her face from him.

"Carly. What are you sorry for?" he asked her, genuine confusion in his eyes. He put his hand on her arm gently and tried to bring her attention back to him.

"I… tried to… fight him off… but he just got… angrier, and I wasn't…. strong enough." she finally got out in between sobs. She didn't miss the anger that flashed through his eyes, and for a moment she was afraid that Spike wouldn't understand.

"Are you mad at me?" she asked him. She didn't recognize her own voice.

Spike ran a frustrated hand over his face, and rubbed his thumb over his bottom lip in thought.

Finally, he spoke. "I'm not mad at you, Carly. I'm just mad at your so-called father, whose hands were supposed to protect you, but that harmed you instead." Spike told her with sadness in his eyes, his voice laced with softness, yet bitterness also.

Carly was at a loss for words. Last year, Carly was beat up by a girl at school, and when she came home with a black eye, Mr. Johnston had gotten angry and hit her because she couldn't defend herself against the older and stronger girl.

Carly was already small for her age. She stood a couple inches shy of 5 feet and weighed around 90 pounds. She wasn't strong, physically, but she had been through a lot in her life and had built up a certain mental stamina that most adults wouldn't achieve within their lifetime.

Spike cleared his throat, trying to find the words to ask her if she would like to stay with him and his parents until they could figure out what to do with her after she was fully recovered.

"The doctor says that you should be ready to go in the morning." Spike said, pointing the conversation in the direction that he wanted it to go.

"But… I have no where to go." Carly said. "Where are they going to send me?"

"I was wondering if you would like to stay with me and my parents for few weeks until you recover." Spike said carefully, wringing his hands together nervously.

"Would you really do that?" Carly asked, shocked that he even made the offer. She was hoping that she would be able to stay with him because Spike had already gained her trust. He was different than any other man that she had come into contact with in her life. That much she could already tell.

Spike didn't say anything, but his genuine smile, small though it was, and his authentic eyes, said all that she needed to know.

"Okay." she said simply. Carly sighed in contentment, and after being reassured that Spike would stay, she fell back to sleep.

**So, it kind of ended in a weird spot. I was hoping to make it longer, but I figured a short chapter was better than no chapter (assuming that people are still reading this). You know the drill. **


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N #1: Another chapter so soon! I know. Exciting, but don't get used to it. Life is not very busy right now, so that's why it got posted so quickly. I also may or may not have skipped an online assignment, just because I didn't feel like doing it. Oops.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Flashpoint… blah. blah. blah. **

**And the story continues…**

**Chapter 4**

Spike left right after he was sure Carly fell asleep to head back to his house to shower and change.

Thinking that Carly would want a fresh change of clothes, he called Jules to ask a favor.

"_Hey Spike, what's up?"_ Jules said, answering the phone.

"Hey Jules, I'm at my house getting cleaned up before going back to the hospital. I was wondering if you could stop by Carly's house and get her clothes and some other things that she will need and drop them off at my parents' house. I don't want her to have to worry about going back to her house and bring back bad memories, at least, not yet." Spike explained, rubbing a weary hand over his face.

"_Absolutely. Do you want me to come by later tonight after she's home?_" she asked. Spike thought for a moment. Carly didn't know Jules well yet, but she might appreciate having another woman in her life.

"That sounds fine. Carly would probably enjoy getting to know you better. I'm not sure how many good women she's had the chance to get to know in her life." Spike said.

After agreeing to meet at Spike's house at six that night for dinner, they said their goodbyes and ended the call. Spike glanced at his watch, and grabbing his wallet and keys, he headed back out the door to head to the hospital.

When he arrived back at the hospital, he nodded to the nurse at the front desk and followed the familiar hallway back to Carly's room.

The closer he got to the room, the louder her whimpers got. Concerned, he quickened his pace and ran the last several yards to her room.

What he saw broke his heart. She was lying in her bed, very much so asleep, but tears were running down her face, her eyes moving rapidly behind her eyelids, and she was laying in the fetal position.

He strode over to the bed and gently shook her. She woke up quickly gasping for air. Wordlessly, Spike sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her to him, telling her to match her breathing with his.

She complied, and when she calmed down, she pulled away, her face a bright shade of red. She started fidgeting with her hands, and looked anywhere but at Spike.

"Do you want to talk about the nightmare?" he asked gently. Carly shook her head no. She hoped that he wouldn't make her.

"Okay. I have nightmares too sometimes. Sometimes it helps to talk about them." he told her. He didn't have nightmares often, but when he did, they were usually pretty bad, where he would wake up in a cold sweat, struggling to catch his breath.

"I was just reliving what happened, except instead of you saving me, I died." she said, looking down at her hands.

"Well, you don't have to worry, you didn't actually die." Spike said, his lame attempt at making a joke. He was rewarded with at least a small smile from Carly.

A few minutes later, Dr. Matherlee came back to check on her.

"How's my favorite patient doing?" he asked, entering the room. Carly smiled at him and rolled her eyes.

After checking to make sure no stitches had popped, he turned to Spike.

"So I'm assuming that you'll be staying here the night?" he half-asked, grinning as he did so.

Spike smiled in return. "Yes, if that would be all right with you."

"Fine with me. I'll have one of the nurses bring in an extra blanket." he said, patting Spike's shoulder and smiling at Carly as he left. Sure enough, a few minutes later, a nurse brought in another pillow and blanket and wordlessly handed them to Spike.

"What are your parents like?" Carly asked. She hated how her voice sounded worried. She knew in her head that he had to have nice parents because Spike himself was very kind.

"Well, they're both Italian, even more so than me. My mom is very kind and is probably going to fuss something awful over you. Just get used to it because nothing you say will make her stop." Spike said, smiling at her a nice smile that went all the way to his eyes.

"My father is a lot different than he used to be. He's um…pretty sick, so he can be little short at times." Carly's eyes went wide at this, and she pulled the sheets up over her farther.

"Don't worry though, Carly. He's going to love you, and you probably won't witness him getting mad. Plus, he doesn't get abusive when he's mad. He just kind of sulks by himself in the corner." Spike said, grinning. This put Carly at ease some, and she let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding.

"Will you stay tonight?" she asked. She hated how scared and vulnerable she sounded.

"Of course." he whispered, smoothing her hair off her forehead.

When Carly was confident that he wouldn't leave, she allowed herself to close her eyes and fall asleep.

True to his word, Spike stayed the whole night, and Carly slept more peacefully than she ever had in her life.

**Super short chapter, but I'll have the next one posted soon!**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N #1: Yay! Another chapter! I'm loving the development of this story so far and am excited to see where this goes. **

**A/N #2: To guest, Anna: Thanks for your suggestion/review! I'll consider your story line. It really all depends on how busy the rest of this semester is. I have a few big group projects/exams coming up (yay for being a psych major!), but maybe I'll do your story after this one is done.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own it. **

**OH! And to those of you who have been asking, this is the chapter that contains the interaction between Jules and Carly.**

**Chapter 4:**

The next morning, Carly woke up with a smile on her face. Even though she was in a lot of physical pain, mentally, she felt at peace for the first time in what seemed like a long time.

She looked over to Spike, who was sleeping in an awkward position, his hair messed up and sticking in more directions than per usual.

It wasn't a few seconds later that he woke up, as if he sensed Carly watching him.

"Hey…" Spike said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Did you sleep okay?"

"Best night I've had since… well… before Mom died." She smiled at him sadly.

Spike paused for a moment before he stood and patted her hand. "Let's see about getting you out of here," he said as he left in search of the doctor. Earlier that night, Greg had stopped by to drop off the paperwork that Spike would need to fill out before he and Carly left. He stayed up until the early hours of the morning filling them out, and after he was done, he fell asleep almost immediately, regardless of the uncomfortable vinyl chair, exhaustion finally taking over.

A few minutes later, Spike and Dr. Matherlee came back into the room.

The doctor checked her vitals, stitching, and other wounds that she had gotten, and after giving her the "all clear," Carly went into the bathroom to change so they could leave.

"I wouldn't start her back at school for at least another week. After you both decide on a good time to send her back, start her off at a couple hours a day until she has the energy to go for a full day. The pain medication we'll be giving her will be making her really tired, so she'll probably be spending most of the day and night sleeping. Make sure she's eating and drinking enough, but other than that you should be good to go." Dr. Matherlee said.

"Thanks Doctor. She'll be in good hands." After shaking hands, Dr. Matherlee left.

Carly emerged from the bathroom looking much more awake than she did a few minutes earlier.

"Ready?" Spike asked. She merely nodded in return.

After signing the discharge papers, Carly and Spike rode in silence to his house, where he wordlessly opened the door for her when she seemed reluctant to follow suit.

Spike's parents greeted them at the door, and just like he had told Carly, Spike's mom fussed over her. After a careful warning from Spike because of her soreness, he led the way upstairs to the guest bedroom.

"This is where you'll be sleeping." Spike said as he opened the bedroom door.

He was expecting the guest room to look like it normally did: bed made, but looked as if it hadn't been lived in, room void of pictures, or furniture other than a dresser, bed, and nightstand.

What he saw wasn't what he expected. Jules, or so he assumed, went all-out for Carly. The normally plain bedspread was replaced with a brown, light blue, and light green one; pictures of her and her friends were hanging on the wall; her suitcases were no where to be seen, but after further investigation by Carly, they were already put away in the dresser or hung in the closet. A couch was placed along the wall, and Jules had bought some books and movies that she thought Carly would enjoy and stuck them on the bookshelf by the couch.

After rushing around the room and looking at everything, her eyes fell on her journal that was sitting on the nightstand next to the bed. Slowly she walked over and picked it up and clutched it to her chest. Tears streamed down her face as she set it back on the nightstand fingers running over the leather binding.

"How did you get all this stuff?" she asked as she walked over to Spike and hugged him, leaning in towards him.

He was surprised at this, but quickly composed himself as he wrapped his arm around her, being careful to mind her wounded shoulder.

"You can thank Jules. She'll be over for dinner tonight." Spike said, letting go as she did the same. "We should think about getting some food in you so you can take your meds and rest."

So they went downstairs, and after patiently explaining to Spike's mom that she shouldn't eat anything too heavy for at least a little while, she finally complied and cooked some oatmeal and toast for them both.

"So, Carly, what do you like to do? What are your hobbies?" Spike's mom asked her after they sat down to eat.

"I really like reading. There's just something about reading that makes me feel like I'm somewhere else completely, where I can be a princess in a far away land, or a girl whose biggest worries in life are what to wear in the morning." Carly said, letting those words have their full effect.

She did really enjoy reading. It was her way of coping and was a distraction from her current situation. One of her favorite books was _The Little Princess, _and she dreamed of having that life, where she didn't have to worry about anything, and where she knew she was loved more than anything else in the world.

"I also like sports, though. I started playing volleyball this year, and I'm pretty good at it too." She said, grinning with pride.

"You know," Spike's mom said, "you look a lot like my daughter did when she was your age. You're probably what, twelve or thirteen?"

"Thirteen." Carly said, blushing.

After she was finished eating, Carly took her medicine and went upstairs to sleep. She knew that she would be knocked out from the pills before too long.

A few minutes after she had climbed in bed, she heard a gentle knock on the door.

"Come in." she said.

"Are you comfortable?" Spike asked. Carly nodded, unsure of what Spike was after.

He approached the bed slowly, and Carly instinctively slid further under the covers, nervous about what he was doing.

"I… came to tuck you in." Spike said awkwardly but quietly, trying to put her in the mood to sleep.

"Oh." said Carly. No one had ever tucked her in before. Spike proceeded to pull the comforter up to her shoulders and smoothed her hair out of her eyes.

"Let me know if you have any nightmares." he said.

"Okay." she whispered. With that, Spike closed the door quietly behind him, and Carly fell asleep.

**FLASHPOINT**

I have to get home; I have to get home, _Carly kept repeating in her mind. She had to stay after school for a little while to talk to one of her teacher's about her assignment, but had forgotten that Mr. Johnston was going to be home from work early today. _

_As soon as she remembered, she started sprinting and ran the whole way home._

_He started yelling, calling her names that no thirteen-year-old should ever have to hear, and as soon as he got close to her face, she could smell the alcohol on his breath, and knew instinctively that it was going to be bad. _

_He kept yelling and calling her names, and before too long he was kicking and punching her back and stomach, and she knew that she was going to die. _

_He grabbed the vase from the table and smashed that over her head, and she _almost_ fell unconscious. She kind of wished that she had so that she could just die already. Carly was tired of this same abusive routine every day, and was honestly surprised that no one had done anything to help her yet. _

_She was lying on the floor by the wall in the fetal position, arms over her face. The last thing she thought about was Spike and how she wished with everything in her that he would come save her, and take her out of this hell._

_The last thing she saw was the gun raised at her head, and with malicious eyes, he pulled the trigger, and everything went black._

**FLASHPOINT**

Carly woke up with a start. She felt that she was covered in a heavy blanket, a blanket that was somehow moving. She opened her eyes and saw Spike, and immediately started sobbing. He _had_ saved her from hell, and he was here.

He kept saying, "it's okay," over and over again.

"How did you know?" Carly asked him in between sobs.

"You were screaming bloody murder." he said.

"I'm sorry." Carly said as she pulled away, embarrassed. She hadn't screamed in her sleep since she was little. She remembers her mom holding her until she fell back asleep when that happened; something that she really missed.

"It's all right." Spike said, sounding kind of angry.

"Are you mad?" she asked, trying to scoot farther away from him.

"Not at you." he said, taking her hand in both of his. "I'm just mad at the lowlife that made you go through this."

"What happened in your dream?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"The same thing as yesterday, except instead of you saving me, I died." Carly said, looking up at Spike.

"Well, know that won't happen in real life. Unless it's from old age." he said, tightening his grip on her hand. Carly nodded and gave him a small but grateful smile.

"Well, Jules is going to be here in a little while, so why don't you get up and you can get cleaned up and come downstairs when you're ready." Spike told her.

"Thanks, Spike." she said.

"You're welcome." Spike replied, patting her leg and getting up to leave.

**FLASHPOINT**

About an hour later, Carly came downstairs and was pleased to find that Jules was there, as Spike had said.

"Carly! So good to see you up and moving around. How are you feeling?" Jules asked, as she hugged Carly tenderly.

"Really good. I'm still sore but I'm getting kind of stir crazy." she said, returning the hug without pulling her stitches.

"Want to go for a walk with me around the block? I was hoping to get out earlier, but we should have time for one before dinner is ready if you want to get out and enjoy the beautiful day." Jules said.

"Sure!" Carly said. She went upstairs and got her light jacket, phone, and slipped her flip-flops on and followed Jules outside.

"So how are you doing with everything that has happened in the past few days?" Jules asked once they were walking down the road.

"Okay. I don't think everything has sunk in yet. I'm really glad that Mr. Johnston is in jail. I was hoping that I would be able to find a way out soon without having to run away. I didn't want to be on the run my whole rest of my life. I knew he would come looking for me." Carly said, kicking at a stone that was on the sidewalk.

"I know exactly how you feel. My parents died when I was young and was thrown into the system because I didn't have any family that would take me in. My first family was okay, but they eventually couldn't take care of me when they started having kids of their own.

"I ended up with a family next that was very strict, and it wasn't uncommon to be slapped in the face or locked in a room all day with nothing to eat or drink. I'm not saying that what I went through was worse than your situation, but I know the feeling of wanting to leave and wanting to escape the place that I came to know as hell." Jules told her, honestly.

"What happened?" Carly asked, full attention on Jules.

"I came to school with a bruise on my face one day about a year after they took me in, and they were investigated and arrested. After that I was taken to a loving family that ended up adopting me. We have a very close relationship now." Jules said.

"Do you think that could happen to me?" Carly asked, still kicking the stone down the sidewalk.

"If you ask me, I think it already has." Jules said, smiling at her.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Spike is a very kind and loyal person. And if I know him as well as I think I do, I think that you'll see that you aren't going to be able to get rid of him. You seem to have him wrapped around your finger, but in a really good way." Jules said.

Carly looked into Jules eyes, and she knew that what she just told her was the truth. She didn't really have people stick around in her life before, so she was curious to see what that was like. The more she thought about it, the more excited she became.

"You know, you even kind of look like him." Jules said, smirking. At the time she was teasing, not knowing that the next day, they would discover something that would turn all of their lives upside down, but in a really great way.

**A/N: I know, what's coming next is really predictable. Stay tuned for more whump.. it's coming, I promise. Also, I don't actually know what Jules' background is, so just pretend with me, okay? Okay. Also, Carly will be writing her first journal entry since she got shot in the next chapter… I figured that writing in a journal would be the last thing on anyone's mind after getting shot and hospitalized. :P**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hello lovely readers! I can't promise to be posting for at least a little bit after this chapter. I've got two group projects, three exams, two papers, and one quiz in the next week. :O I'm sort of procrastinating. Oops. Well, enjoy. **

**Oh, and I also decided to change part of the last chapter. I generalized it, so that it wasn't Ed that discovered something, but "they" collectively.**

**Disclaimer: Your teeth may fall out from enormous amounts of whump. **

**Chapter 5:**

Jules and Carly returned a few minutes later to Spike's house. They were both in much better spirits. Carly was beginning to gain confidence in Spike's loyalty after talking to Jules, brief though it was.

Dinner was going smoothly. Carly was talking about things she remembered about her mom: how they went on dates together every week, sometimes to dinner or a movie, or for a walk in the park, how her mom tucked her in every night, and how she would always send a note to school with her in her lunchbox.

"I don't think I ever asked this, but what was your mom's name?" Spike asked.

"Annabelle Stanton." Carly said. Spike choked on his food.

"Uh, will you excuse me for a sec?" He asked, dismissing himself.

Carly furrowed her brow as Jules got up to follow him. She found him in the bathroom splashing cold water over his face and breathing heavily over the sink.

"Spike. What's the matter? What's wrong?" Jules asked, putting her hand on his back.

"Annabelle Stanton. That has to be a fairly popular name, right?" he asked, near panic in his voice.

"I don't think so, Spike. Not here." Jules said, rubbing small circles on his back.

"Annabelle Stanton was the name of my girlfriend about fourteen years ago. We were pretty serious, and I was going to ask her to marry me, but she broke up with me abruptly, and at the time I couldn't figure out why because it just seemed so sudden and out of the blue. But now I think I know why she did…" he said, his voice trailing off.

"Oh, Spike." Jules whispered, still rubbing his back.

"Could you cover for me Jules? Just for a little bit." he said, rushing to his bedroom.

"What are you going to do?" Jules asked, following him.

"Go to the hospital where Carly was just at, have them take a blood sample from me and test it with hers. I think I might be her dad…. oh my god." Spike said, grabbing his wallet and keys and leaving his bedroom and slipping out the back door. Jules tried to stop him, maybe to get him to calm down, but it seemed useless. He had already made up his mind.

She returned to the table to find a very confused looking Carly. Spike's mom looked pale, his dad stoic, as if they both knew what was going on as well. They made eye contact and Jules gave them a small nod, communicating to not say anything to Carly.

"Where's Spike?" Carly asked, putting her fork down.

"Uh… he had to go run an errand but he'll be back soon." Jules said. Carly looked at Jules suspiciously but didn't press the matter any further.

**FLASHPOINT**

Spike couldn't get the events of yesterday out of his mind. They came to find out that Carly was the daughter of Spike's ex-girlfriend, and he was waiting for the hospital to call with the expedited DNA paternity results.

He was running on the treadmill, completely numb when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket, slowing down gradually to avoid cramps, he pulled out and answered.

"Hello?"

"_Mr. Scarlatti? This is Marcy with Toronto General Hospital. I've called to report the results of your recent paternity test with a Miss Carly Stanton?"_

"Yes. What did you find?" Spike started pacing in the weight room, and everyone, noticing this, approached Spike. He had filled them all in that morning at their pre-shift briefing, and they were all hoping for good news.

"_We found that your DNA matched Carly Stanton's with 96.8% accuracy. Congratulations! A messenger will be delivering the results to the designated address in a few minutes. You will need to show ID when he comes."_

"Thank you so much." Spike said, feeling the tears streaming down his face. He looked at everyone else and nodded ecstatically,

"_You're welcome. Again, our congratulations."_

Spike hung up the phone and everyone let out a loud cheer. Jules had her hands over her mouth in joyful surprise, Wordy and Ed hugged each other, and Sam and Lew ambushed Spike with pats on the back and hugs.

"I'm a dad. I can't believe it." Spike said, wiping the tears off his face and standing up straight. He gave a sort of watery laugh then, and returned the hugs that were being offered.

"Boss," he said, seeing Greg come in the room. Greg saw the reactions of everyone else, and deduced that Spike had gotten the results back, and that it was indeed good news.

After more hugs and congratulations from everyone, he asked Greg if he could have the rest of the day off and go tell Carly, and after his request was granted, he gathered his belongings, hopped in his car, and drove the couple minutes that it took to get to his parents house.

"Ma! Pa! Carly!" He yelled entering the house.

Carly was sitting on the couch with Spike's mom watching a movie, and were both startled by his abrupt entry.

"Spikey, my son, I thought you weren't going to be home until very late tonight." Spike's mom said, standing and crossing the floor to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Well, I have some really important news that I would like to tell you, all of you." He said, nodding to his Dad as he entered the room.

Spike looked at Carly, who was still sitting on the couch, and his expression softened, but his excitement was still obvious.

"You probably noticed how abruptly I left after you told me the name of your mom. Annabelle Stanton. Well," Spike said, drawing in a deep breath, "your mom was my girlfriend about fourteen years ago. I loved her, in fact, I wanted to marry her."

He let those words sink in for a moment. Spike saw Carly's expression change quickly, like she was shocked at this news, but really deep in thought. It seemed as if those words didn't quite sink in. Spike crossed the room and sat on the coffee table across from Carly.

"When I left yesterday during dinner for a little while, I went to the hospital where you got your stitches at and had them do an expedited paternity test, yours and mine. The results just came back with 96.8% accuracy." Spike said, tearing up again.

He couldn't believe that he actually had a daughter in this world. While this thought made him ecstatic, it angered him because he missed her growing up, not knowing that she even existed.

"What… how…?" Carly said as her face paled drastically. She sat on the couch with her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide, as if her brain was still trying to process with what Spike had just told her.

"You're my… dad." Carly said slowly.

"That's right." Spike reached forward and put his hand on her arm, trying to bring her focus back to him.

"So where have you been my whole life?" Carly asked, almost bitterly, pulling her arm away.

"Sweetie, I didn't know that I had a daughter in the world until a few minutes ago. Your mom and I were quite serious in our relationship, but one day she broke up with me, and I tried to find her but couldn't. I never knew why until this day, and now I think I understand." Spike said, looking into her eyes, his eyes soft and honest.

"I just… can I think about this for a little while?" Carly asked. "I'm not mad, I just need to think."

Spike nodded, kind of taken a back by this. While he wasn't exactly expecting a specific reaction from her, he didn't expect her to leave to "think about it". Spike hoped that she was okay with it. The logical part of his mind told him to not worry and that everything would work out, but something inside him was _freaking out. _

Meanwhile, several thoughts were flooding Carly's mind all at once. She went upstairs and collapsed on to her bed…

_Her bed,_ she thought. Would this become her bed now? Her home?

All her life she had been longing to find her father, and now that she finally did, she wasn't experiencing the same emotions that she had expected. She thought that she would be really happy, even ecstatic, and she was happy, but she was also really confused.

She wanted to know where he had been her whole life. He missed her birth, her entire childhood. But, he had said that he didn't even know he had a child out there. Could he be telling the truth?

In the few days that she had known Spike, she never took him to be a dishonest man, and how he was a few minutes ago was the most honest she had ever seen him.

He didn't seem to be the type of person that would turn away if he knew that he had a child out there. Spike seemed to be the person that would look until he found his child, regardless of what was standing in the way.

The few times that Carly had asked her mom about her father, her mom's expression had changed. It went from being to happy (usually), to a far-away look, and her questions were never answered. After a while she stopped pressing the matter.

Carly mulled these thoughts over in her head. And in her mind, she knew Spike was telling the truth.

She started to get excited. Carly was already attached to Spike, and especially in the last two days after he saved her life, she feared the day when he would leave her.

She got up and went downstairs to find Spike and his parents sitting in the living room.

Spike looked up when he heard her come into the room. Carly had prepared a speech, how she was going to ask him about his relationship with her mom, if he was going to adopt her and this would become her home, and so many more, but all those plans failed when she broke down and started sobbing.

She stood there then, with her arm that wasn't in a sling wrapped around her as a self-comforting mechanism, and Spike got up and crossed the space to her and wrapped his arms around her, ever so gently but tenderly, pulling her head to his chest.

She sobbed uncontrollably and she thought that the tears would never end. Spike didn't seem to mind though. He kept rubbing small circles on her back and kissing her head, whispering words of comfort.

Spike wasn't even sure what he was doing. He just knew that the girl in his arms was his daughter, she was hurting, and he wanted to fix it. He just kept the gentle motion of his arm and would kiss her head every so often while whispering to her, telling her that he was there now, and that everything was going to be okay.

Eventually, her sobs subsided, and she didn't seem to mind being held in his arms, and neither did Spike. She listened to his heart beat for a few seconds, and it was ever so strong yet soothing.

She pulled away, and still couldn't find the words to say.

"I know that you probably have so many questions that you want answers to. You probably want to know where I've been for the past thirteen years, and about your mom, and so many other things. But, I bet the question you want answered most is, 'what now?'" Carly nodded, encouraging him to go on.

"Well, I haven't given it much thought, but I don't need to. I've already asked Greg to get me the papers for adoption. I want to you come stay with me – permanently." Spike said confidently.

"I was just talking to my parents, and I think it would be best if we moved out so we could have our own space. There's a house just a few doors down for sale, and if you want to, we could move in there."

"I want to stay with you." Carly said, surprising herself. And while she _did_ want to stay with Spike, she didn't know how to handle all the sudden emotions that she was experiencing.

Spike smiled, and pulled her in for another hug. After a few seconds he pulled away, wiped her tears off her cheeks with his thumb, and with both hands on her shoulders, he said, "And I don't expect you to call me 'Dad' right away. You can call me Spike until you're comfortable, okay?" She smiled and nodded.

Spike's parents had been silently observing until that point, but as soon as Carly said that she wanted to stay with Spike, Spike's mom started crying. Even Spike's dad teared up at the scene before him.

Carly went and hugged them both, and they melted when she called them "Grandma" and "Grandpa". Spike knew then that everything would work out. After all, he finally brought his parents a granddaughter.

**FLASHPOINT**

Carly went upstairs after Spike left to pick up the adoption papers from Greg. She sat down, and for the first time since the day she met Spike, she sat down to write in her journal.

_Dear Journal,_

_So much has happened since I last wrote a few days ago. Mr. Johnston ended up getting arrested… FINALLY… but the bad aspect of that is that I got shot in the process. You know how they say your life flashes before your eyes when something like that happens? Well, it's not true. My life didn't flash before my eyes._

_I'm only here today because Spike and Jules came in the nick of time, but unfortunately not fast enough that I could avoid getting shot, but at least I'm still alive._

_Spike brought me to his parents' house after I spent the night in the hospital, and we come to find out that he's my biological Dad. Crazy, right? _

Carly paused writing as she watched a tear fall onto the page. Taking a deep breath to compose herself, she continued.

_I'm experiencing so many emotions right now. I'm really happy because Spike is awesome, and I couldn't have asked for a better person for a Dad, but I'm still confused as to why Mom didn't tell him that she was pregnant, or that I was even born. I believed Spike when he told me that he didn't know. He doesn't seem to be the type of person that would walk away knowing that he has a kid somewhere out there. _

_He's gone right now to pick up the adoption papers from Greg. I think we'll have to have a hearing before a judge to make it official, but that's okay, because I know that he'll approve it. He has to; Spike is my biological father after all. There's no reason not to._

_He's also talking about moving a few doors down from his parents, just him and me. He says we need our own space, and I think I agree. While I love his parents, Grandpa is dying, and it's a matter of time before he passes, so I don't want be in the same house when that happens. _

_That brings up another thing. I don't know when I can start calling Spike "Dad". I want to, but it just seems weird. I don't know… I think he would want me to call him Dad but it might take me a while. _

_I'm finally at peace though. Even though my life has been hard, I know that it's only going to get better from here. I'm excited to see where this new chapter of my life takes me. But for now, goodnight. _

_- Carly Scarlatti _

Carly closed her journal and set it back on her nightstand, snuggling down into her covers, the events of the day making her feel exhausted.

She was almost asleep when she heard Spike's familiar footfalls, and knew that he was coming to tuck her in.

She heard a quiet but insistent knock, which was more of an announcement rather than a request.

"Hey," he said, pausing in the door. He crossed the floor and he flipped on her bedside lamp and sat on the edge of the bed, facing her.

"Is there anything you want to talk about or know?" Spike asked.

"When will it become… official?" Carly asked, trying to not sound too eager.

"Tomorrow. I made an appointment for a hearing before a judge in the late afternoon. Greg knew someone who owed him a favor." Spike said. He looked truly happy. "Normally these things would take a lot longer than that, but I'm going to fill out the paperwork tonight and the judge will look over the papers, the DNA test, and make a decision right then. Don't worry though, everything will go smoothly, and by the end of the day tomorrow, you'll officially be my daughter." A tear escaped Carly's eyes, and Spike reached up and wiped it away with his thumb.

"Okay." Carly whispered. Spike flicked the lamp off. He pulled the blankets over her shoulders and gently tucked her in. After that, he smoothed her hair back off her forehead and bent down to give her a kiss.

"Goodnight, sweetheart." Spike whispered.

"Goodnight, Dad." Carly said, a few seconds later. The words felt strange in her mouth, because she had never called anyone Dad before. She figured she would get used to it, and she even kind of liked it.

Carly thought that she may have seen a tear glisten in Spike's eyes in the reflection of the moonlight as he left, but she wasn't sure. She wondered if Spike knew that she was too old to be tucked in, but she hoped that it would take a while for him to figure that out.

But for the first time in a very long time, she fell asleep with a smile on her face. She had a home and she finally had her Dad, and she couldn't be more excited.

**A/N: Okay, so there wasn't as much whump as I would have liked, but I'm working on it, I promise. What do you guys think? Did it happen the way that you had expected (because it was super predictable) or would you have liked to have seen it happen a different way? Did it seem realistic? Don't hate me. I tried. **

**I was thinking about going the way of Carly hating him for it for a little while, but I figured that would be more unrealistic. The point is that she's been "looking" for her Dad her whole life, and she finally found him, and it ended up being exactly who she wanted it to be. Do you guys agree?**

**I also don't actually know what the adoption process is like in Canada when it's a biological parent trying to adopt said child. Just pretend I'm right.**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: I'm back! Three weeks ago I had a crazy week before Spring Break… you fellow college students know exactly what I'm talking about. Then I was actually on Spring Break, and this week I was really busy again. Boo. But, I don't actually have anything to do all weekend, so I hope to get a lot written. No promises, though. All right, enough of my babbling. Enjoy Chapter 6.**

**The second part of this chapter takes place during "One Wrong Move." See how I think it would have gone if Spike had a daughter. **

**Disclaimer: Your heart may explode from overexposure of adorableness. **

Chapter 6

It didn't take long for Spike to officially adopt Carly. Greg had called in a favor with a judge he knew, and after a couple interviews, background checks, and signatures, Spike officially became Carly's Dad.

Two weeks later the team was gathered at Spike's parents house to help him move their things into their new house. Spike tended to be very protective of Carly, so he was having an alarm system installed as well.

The house had its charms: with four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a large kitchen, dining rom, living room, and finished basement, there was certainly enough room for the both of them. Because Spike had lived with his parents up until this point in his life, he had plenty of money saved up from not having to spend much of his paycheck that he could afford a nice home for himself and Carly.

Spike noticed that Carly was quickly becoming very close with the other members of the team. Carly and Jules often did things together. Just last night they went to the spa together. Spike was really glad that she was finding family among the members of Team One, which is something that she had been lacking for the past year of her life since her Mom died.

"Dad?" Carly asked as she knocked on his bedroom door. Spike was working to put his clothes away in the drawers.

Spike smiled and looked up as she came in the room. "I just wanted to tell you I was going to bed." she said.

Spike crossed the room and drew her into his arms for a hug as he squeezed her head to his chest. He pulled her head away from him and kissed her forehead. "I'll be by in a few minutes to tuck you in." he whispered. Spike had gotten into the habit in the past couple of weeks to whisper when he knew that she was tired and going to bed.

"Okay." she whispered back. Spike moved to pull away, but she pulled him in closer and hugged him tightly around his torso.

"Wait, I'm not done yet." she said, smiling. Spike chuckled a little bit and allowed himself one more kiss to the top of her head. Carly loved the way his chest rumbled under her ear when he laughed.

Carly left the room and Spike was left along with his thoughts as he resumed putting his clothes away. He thought about how proud he was of Carly. In just a couple weeks, he had watched her turn from a scared and deeply wounded girl that flinched any time someone moved too quickly around her, to a girl who was now able to sleep through most nights, and even though the flinching haven't gone away completely, it was obvious that she had grown to be much more comfortable around Spike and his friends.

He thought about how glad he is that he's her father. Spike didn't believe in God, but he knew that his car not starting that morning, and him plowing her to the ground, as well as her school assignment was no coincidence. There were too many factors that were in play for it to be coincidental.

Spike shook his head as he put away his last set of clothes as he made his way to Carly's room, which was directly across from his.

He tapped on the door quietly and entered, seeing that the lights under the door were turned off, suggesting that she was in bed.

Carly smiled as she heard Spike come in the room. Him tucking her in at night had quickly become her favorite part of the day, as it reminded her so much of how her Mom used to tuck her in when she was younger. She was pretty sure that Spike would keep tucking her in at night for as long as she allowed it, and she couldn't see herself wanting it to end within the foreseeable future.

Spike sat on the bed and pulled the covers up over her shoulders.

"Dad?" Carly whispered.

"Yes, sweetheart?" Spike replied just as softly, slowly reaching up to smooth the hair off of her forehead, being careful to not startle her.

"I'm scared." she said, looking up at him with wide eyes. "Can you tell me a story?"

Spike smiled sadly at her. He stood up, kicked off his shoes, and slid under the edge of the covers, sitting with his back resting against the backboard. Carly sat up and moved herself enough to lay her head on Spike's chest and wrapped her arms around him as she listened to the soft rumble of his voice under her ear.

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful girl, who grew up without a father. The other men in her life had not taken care of her and protected her as they should have. Then, unexpectedly, the girl's mother died, leaving her to fend for herself in the cruel world…"

"I feel like I know who this story is about." Carly said grumpily.

"Just you wait. It gets better." Spike said.

"One day, she had two seemingly chance encounters with the same kind, loving, attractive, confident, protective, awesome, cool…"

They both giggled slightly as Spike jokingly listed the things he loves about himself.

"She had a couple chance encounters with the same guy. What this guy saw in her was a beautiful, but frightened and insecure girl, who desperately needed someone to love her. Over the next couple of days, they became very close. He was trying to find a way that he could legally adopt her, to try to take her under his wing and guide her and teach her to grow up to be a strong, confident woman who conquered her past and embraced her future."

Spike felt Carly squeeze him slightly and he gave a gentle squeeze in return.

"Unfortunately, since the guy was single, he couldn't adopt her. He stopped thinking about it for a couple days and focused on strengthening his relationship with her. He watched as she slowly became more comfortable around him and his closest friends and began to move on from her past.

"In those days, he did all that he could to protect her. Whether it was holding her and comforting her in the middle of the night when demons invaded her dreams or keeping her close any time they went out together, he wanted more than anything to make her feel safe. But he still had this burning desire to legally adopt her inside.

"One day, the break he was looking for came. He found out that her mother was his former lover, which led to him discovering that he was her biological father. He was so overjoyed. He cried for the first time in a long time, but not tears of sadness; tears of joy.

"His love for her grew so quickly in the moment he heard these news, that he felt the emptiness from being lonely for so long fill up with the love that he had for his daughter.

"After only a month of knowing her, he watched her grow into a more relaxed, confident, and trusting person. He couldn't be more proud of her, and he is so excited to see how she grows in the future.

"No matter what happens or where they go, he will always be there for her, to love and protect her. He couldn't be more excited to have a hand in guiding and directing her as she continues to grow up into a beautiful woman."

As Spike finished, he looked down to see Carly's tear-filled eyes, threatening to spill over. "I love you, Dad." Carly whispered.

"I love you, too, sweetheart. Nothing could ever change that."

He didn't loosen his grip as he continued to stroke her hair and rest his head on the top of her head. He looked down to see that she was fast asleep, and he kept the constant motion of his arm going until he was sure she was fast asleep. He carefully picked her up enough to set her on the bed, head resting on the pillows. He pulled the covers over her shoulders again and smoothed the hair off her forehead and bent down to give her a tender kiss on the forehead.

Spike left her door open a crack as he left the room so he could hear her if she had any nightmares.

*~*FLASHPOINT*~*

The next day, Spike dropped Carly off at his parents' house as he left for work. It started out as any other day with pre-shift workout. Before too long, they got a bomb call, which were Spike's favorite.

Little did they know, the whole compound was booby trapped with land mines that were impossible to diffuse once someone stepped on them. Unfortunately, that person was Spike's best friend, Lew.

Spike wanted to try to do a weight transfer and then try to figure out how to diffuse the mine once they got to safety. Spike knew that he was acting off of pure emotion and that he probably wasn't thinking straight, but he didn't care because he wanted to know that he did all he could to save Lew.

"It's gonna be okay, Spike." he heard Lew say. And then he heard the sound he _never _wanted to hear… a bomb exploding.

Spike didn't have to turn around to know what happened. He crumpled to the ground and sobbed. Greg came over to him and wrapped his arms around him as he continued to sob.

Spike thought of Carly. Lew and Carly had become close in the past few weeks, and he knew that she was going to be devastated with the news. He decided to keep crying, trying to get his emotional release now so he could be strong for Carly later.

Later that night after everyone had debriefed, he walked into his parents' house, feeling like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. He stepped in the door and saw his mother first. He shook his head as he felt the tears threaten to spill over for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. She came over and hugged him, knowing immediately what had happened.

Carly came in the room with a big smile on her face, until she saw Spike and her Grandma hugging each other. Spike looked up as she came in the room and held open his arm, and she immediately ran into his side, hiding in his chest. They stayed like that for a couple minutes until Carly had the courage to ask what had happened.

"Sweetie, Lew died today." Spike said. Carly pulled away and searched his face. After seeing that he was telling the truth, she took a few steps backwards and bolted out of the room.

Spike sighed and released his Mom as he went to follow her. He found her in his old bedroom, face buried into his old pillow. No doubt she went there for comfort, so Spike crossed the room and sat next to her and rubbed her back as she cried.

"I know it hurts, sweetheart. It hurts me, too." Spike said. Carly sat up and pathetically crawled into Spike's waiting arms. She stayed like that for what could have been minutes or hours, she didn't know, but what she did know is that she was not looking forward to the next few days.

Spike had explained to her what had happened the best he could without scaring her. She didn't say anything after he told her, just hiccupped as her sobs started to subside.

After Carly had calmed down, he realized that she wore herself out enough to make her fall asleep. He sighed as he picked her up and carried her downstairs to his car. He laid her in the backseat and drove a couple blocks down the road to their house, and then carefully carried her inside and laid her down on her bed. After kissing her forehead, he went into his own room and lay down on the bed, the events of the day exhausting him.

A couple hours later, Spike woke to feel a trembling figure huddled into his side. Spike was confused for a few seconds, but he regained his composure, sat up, and pulled Carly into his arms.

"What's the matter, sweetheart? Did you have another bad dream?" Spike asked, rocking Carly and shushing her, trying to calm her down.

Carly nodded frantically against his chest as she struggled to match her short, quick breaths to Spike's steady ones.

"You… were on… a mission… when a bomb…." Carly started sobbing even louder and clung to him, desperately. Spike held her tighter and rocked her back and forth. Spike knew that they were going to have a long couple of weeks ahead of them as they both try to adjust to life without Lew.

**A/N: Kind of a weird place to end, but I hope you enjoyed the chapter anyways. I hope to have another chapter posted soon! Happy Maundy Thursday, everyone!**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: Here's the next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: it's sad, I know, but I don't own Flashpoint. **

Chapter 7

Just when Spike thought that Carly had finally began to make progress when it came to her being able to sleep through the night, she started having horrible nightmares again. After the first few nights of her waking up every couple of hours, Spike just started sleeping on the couch in her room.

He felt completely helpless. While he knew that she was probably suffering from PTSD, he still wanted more than anything for her to be at the point she was last week before Lew died.

Spike himself was struggling with Lew's death. While Spike previously knew that every day could be his last, he never fully realized it until Lew died. For the first couple of days after Lew's death, Spike was terrified to go out in the field; for fear that he would never come back home to Carly. He wasn't sleeping well, either, and after about a week of that, sleep deprivation started to make its presence known.

Lew had a really nice funeral, though. His entire family came, alone with everyone from the SRU, people that he had saved, friends, etc. Spike didn't want Carly to go at first because he didn't think it would help her in any way, but had let her go after she begged him to.

The pastor read a beautiful eulogy that Lew's parents, along with the members of his team, had written. There wasn't a dry eye present. Spike had his arm wrapped around Carly for the duration of it, hoping that he could bring her some comfort. Spike, along with Ed, Greg, Sam, and Wordy, had the honor of being pallbearers.

Carly was still terrified of Spike leaving to go to work in the morning. She was afraid that he was going to go and not come back. The ten minutes before Spike left for work consisted of Carly clinging to Spike, Spike promising to call or text often, and most importantly to come back home to her later.

*~*FLASHPOINT*~*

When Spike was convinced that Carly was well enough, physically and mentally, to return to school, they went in to meet with the principal before she started classes. She had been out of school for five weeks total, which means that she had a lot of catching up to do.

"It's good to see you back with us, Carly. I trust that you are adjusting to life with your father and are recovering well?" Principal Higgins asked her.

"Yes, thank you sir." she said.

"Now, I had a meeting with each of your teachers, and due to the circumstances, we have allowed the quizzes and exams that you missed to be taken home for you to work on your own. You will have two weeks to turn them in, and it will be expected that you also keep up with your current assignments. I have assigned a tutor, Miss Hatfield, to assist you with whatever you need. Are there any questions or concerns that you have?" Principal Higgins said, handing them her stack of work.

After a shake of the head from both Carly and Spike, they shook hands with the principal and walked out of the classroom.

They ran in to Clark out in the hallway. In the past few weeks, Clark and Carly had been talking and texting a lot and had become good friends. After giving Clark a hug and speaking to him briefly, he walked a little ahead to give the two of them some privacy.

After a couple minutes, Clark gave Carly a hug and she walked up alongside Spike, taking his hand.

Spike had gotten a call from Greg saying that they all needed to head to the station immediately. Running out to the truck with Carly's hand still grasped in his own, they rushed to the station. What happened was that both teams that were on shift right now had a hot call, so they needed another team to come in in case one of the teams needed backup, or, God forbid, they got another call.

The entire team had made it to the station within ten minutes, and Carly made her way in to one of the empty briefing rooms, collapsing on the couch to take a nap, the events of the day exhausting her.

It didn't take much to exhaust Carly these days, especially since she wasn't sleeping well still and hasn't been since Lew died. In fact, everyone at the station had been looking a little rough lately. Carly could tell that most people weren't sleeping well because of tired expressions, constant yawning, and dark circles under everyone's eyes.

Carly fell asleep quickly. Not too long later, she felt a thick blanket being placed over her. She opened her eyes to see Sam looking at her with a knowing expression on his face.

"Get some sleep, tweet." he whispered, brushing the hair out of her eyes. Sam cringed when she flinched a little bit, his movements startling her. Even though Carly had gotten much better, she still wasn't completely past the flinching. Carly murmured something back, and fell asleep.

A few hours later, Carly woke up in her bed at home. Confused, she walked downstairs to find Spike and Sam sitting in the living room, talking.

After waving to them both, Carly asked, "How did I get here?" Both Spike and Sam chuckled softly.

"You were sleeping so soundly, we couldn't wake you up. So, I carried you out to the truck and then brought you inside. We were so surprised that you weren't waking up. But, since you haven't been sleeping well lately, so we thought it best to let you sleep." Carly sat down on the couch next to Sam and leaned in for a hug.

"Why are you here?" Carly said, directing the question to Sam.

"I was wondering if you would like to come out with me. We could grab some coffee, go to the park… something." Sam said. "I thought you would like to get out of the house for a while."

"Is that okay, Dad?" Carly asked Spike.

"Of course, sweetheart." Spike said.

Carly left to go upstairs, put some clean clothes in a bag, put her shoes on, and grabbed her backpack. She figured since it was already 8pm that she would be sleeping at Sam's apartment tonight.

After saying goodbye to Spike, Sam and Carly left to go to one of the all-night coffee shops in town. Carly sat in a booth in the corner of the coffee shop while Sam ordered their drinks. Sam got a coffee and Carly got hot tea, since Spike didn't like her drinking coffee at only thirteen. She didn't really like the taste anyway, so it didn't matter.

"All right, tweet, we need to talk." Sam said, putting his coffee down.

"About what?" Carly said, looking at him.

"What's going on in that head of yours." Sam said. "Your Dad asked if I would talk to you, since I wasn't directly involved in the situation and might be able to offer some sort of comfort that Spike wouldn't be able to give, since he's so close to the situation."

"He did that?" Carly asked. Carly had been wrestling with a lot of things recently, especially with the prospect of losing Spike. She couldn't sleep, wasn't eating well, and didn't put much thought into her physical appearance, with her hair going up into a messy bun every day, wearing nothing more than a t-shirt or a hoodie and jeans with her converse sneakers. She wasn't wearing makeup like she normally did, even though she only wore a little bit before.

"He did. Spike is really worried about you. Now, neither of us has known you more than a couple months, but we both care about you and want what is best for you. So, tell me, what's going on?" Sam said.

Carly sighed, sipped her tea, and spoke. "I'm so afraid. I'm terrified that I'm going to wake up one day and say goodbye to my Dad for the last time. I don't know what I would do then. He's only just come into my life… I don't want to lose him now!" Carly said, starting to tear up. She hated the way her voice kept hitching.

"I have these horrible nightmares every night. Sometimes Dad gets blown up. Other times he gets shot. A few times he's been taken hostage and tortured. The things is with each and every one of those times I can see him because I'm standing right there, screaming for him and trying to run to him, but he doesn't ever hear me and I can't move. I'm just standing there, completely helpless." she said, allowing a few tears to slip down her face, unheeded.

"I completely understand that. After my sister died when I was young, I was afraid that I was going to lose someone else in my family, too. It took a while, but I eventually gained my confidence back. I had nightmares for a while, but they're gone now for the most part." Sam said, standing up and offering his hand. In the couple months that Sam had known Carly, she had already become like a little sister to him as well as Jules, unlike the other people on the team who were given "uncle" as a title. Playing the role of a big brother, this gave him the privilege of some information that even Spike didn't know, something that Sam took great pride in.

"How did you do it?" Carly asked, tightening her grip on his hand.

"I talked to some of my close friends, and they helped ease my fears. While it's always possible to lose someone you love, it's completely out of your control, so there's no use in worrying yourself over it." Sam said, stopping on a small bridge that went over a stream, leaning on the railing.

Carly looked at the stream with a thoughtful expression on her face. While she knew that it was silly to worry herself over losing Spike, it made a lot more sense when someone else was telling her that.

"So, what should I do?" Carly asked.

"Be open about what you're thinking. Even though your Dad pretty much knows what's going on, it's good to tell him. That way, he will know how to help you and you will feel better by telling him about it." Sam said, smiling down at her.

"I'm just… afraid that I'll hurt his feelings or burden him by telling him these things. I don't want to make things harder for him." Carly said, wiping a stray tear away.

"I understand that, I really do, but I know from experience that if you try to make everything seem like it's okay when it's not, especially after a major loss, it will only make things worse in the long run. Don't be afraid to talk to your Dad about it. He'll listen, and most importantly, he'll understand. He wants to be there for you, but you have to let him help." Sam said. He knew that what Carly needed was for someone to be straight with her, but in a gentle way.

Carly nodded. After a few minutes that consisted of them both staring ahead at the stream, she spoke. "I miss him." she whispered, finally breaking down into tears.

"Me too." Sam said as he put his arms around her and held her close. Carly sobbed, which Sam was glad about because he knew that it was the emotional release that she needed. Sam wiped a few tears away as well.

A few minutes later, Carly's sobbing had subsided so that she was only hiccupping occasionally. Sam wordlessly picked her up so that she had her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms around his neck and carried her back to his car.

After they were on the road, Sam asked, "Do you want to sleep at my apartment tonight or go home?"

"I can just sleep at your apartment if you don't mind, since it's only a couple minutes from here. It's late and I don't want you to have to drive across town to have to come all the way back here." She said. Sam could tell that she was exhausted.

Sam nodded and called Spike to let him know. By the time he hung up the phone two minutes later, Carly was fast asleep. _She must be exhausted if she slept for four hours today and is sleeping now… _he thought as he parked on the street in front of his apartment building.

He went around to the passenger side and picked Carly up and carried her inside. After pulling off her shoes and tucking her in to his guest bed, he went outside and brought her bags in, setting them in her room.

He set an alarm to wake himself up in the morning so that he could get Carly off to school in time. He didn't want to send her because of her emotional and physical state as a result of the recent trauma and lack of sleep, but he hoped that by her sticking to routine it would actually help rather than hurt her. He fell asleep, hoping that she would be able to sleep through the night.

*~*FLASHPOINT*~*

He woke up the next morning, showered, put some jeans and a hoodie on and went to the kitchen to get breakfast started. A few minutes later, he heard Carly come into the kitchen.

Sam chuckled a little bit at her appearance. She had a serious case of bed head, but she looked rested, to which Sam was thankful for.

"Sleep okay last night?" Sam asked. Carly nodded, saying nothing. She had a nightmare, but it wasn't as bad as they normally were and she was able to fall asleep pretty quickly afterwards.

Sam dished up bacon, eggs, toast, and juice for them and they sat down at the counter to eat.

"Have any big projects or tests coming up?" Sam asked.

"I have a poster presentation due in a week for my English class and a math test tomorrow. I still have all of the make up work that I got yesterday. I'm not really looking forward to that."

"Well, if you need any help with that, let me know." Sam said, avoiding a slap as he snatched a piece of bacon from her plate.

"I'll never ask for your help. That was my last piece of bacon!" Carly said, giggling. Sam took one of his pieces and tossed it on her plate.

"Yours looked better." Sam said, grinning.

They chatted for a few more minutes, and Carly went to shower and get ready for school. About thirty minutes later, Carly and Sam left and after dropping her off at school, went to go talk to Spike.

*~*FLASHPOINT*~*

Spike was in the kitchen putting his dishes from breakfast in the dishwasher when he heard a knock on the door.

"Hey, Spike." Sam said as Spike opened the door.

"Sam! How are you doing this morning? Carly get off to school okay?" Spike asked as he led Sam into the kitchen, pouring two cups of coffee and joining Sam at the kitchen table.

"Doing just fine. A little emotionally exhausted, but that's okay. Carly got off to school fine. I thought it would be best for her to stick to routine even though she's not doing the best mentally, physically, or emotionally for that matter." Sam said, taking a sip of his coffee.

"How did it go last night with the two of you?" Spike asked, wrapping both of his hands around the warm mug.

"About as I had expected." Sam said. "She did open up to me as to what she was thinking and feeling as I hoped she would, and I told her that she needed to talk to you about it, which she said she would do.

"She's worried herself sick after Lew died that the same is going to happen to you. She's having constant nightmares about you getting blown up or shot, even taken captive and tortured. She said that in each of her dreams she can see what they're doing to you, but she can't actually do anything about it." Sam said.

"I figured that's what was going on with her. I know she's not sleeping well at all, and she has nightmares every night where she wakes up screaming bloody murder and it takes a while to calm her down. When she does calm down enough so that she's just hiccupping a little bit, it takes some convincing on my part. She knows that when she falls asleep she's going to have more nightmares.

"She was hardly eating anything for a while, although I think that she's finally almost back to eating the same amount as she was before. And the few minutes before I go to the station consist of her crying and me assuring her that I would be safe." Spike said, sighing.

"I just don't know how best to handle this situation. I just want to help her and make her talk about it, because I know that she'll feel so much better, and that way I'll be able to actually give her advise rather than just assume that I know what's going on."

"Look. I know that Carly loves you deeply. I know that you feel the same. But, I know that you're going to want to make her tell you what I just told you, and I think you're gonna have to wait until she's ready. She feels that by telling you these things that she will be burdening you by adding extra worries to your plate."

Spike nodded and sighed. "I just hope that she comes to me sooner rather than later before she blows."

"Me too, Spike. Me too."

**A/N: Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend! I'm back into the full swing of college, in the home stretch, so who's telling when the next chapter will be posted. Please excuse any grammatical/spelling/dumb errors. I really wanted to post this sooner rather than later.**


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: It snowed here at school today… and I'm in the South… and it's April… seriously. What the heck!? Yeah, sorry, that didn't really have anything to do with anything. But here's chapter 8.**

**Disclaimer: In reality, I only own Carly. I only own everyone else in my dreams.**

Chapter 8

The same night following the conversation between Spike and Sam, Spike was headed upstairs to start getting ready for bed. He walked past Carly's room to get to his own and heard Carly crying, most likely into a pillow to try to muffle her sobs.

Conflicted, Spike didn't know if he should go in the room and try to talk to her or if she just wanted to be alone for the time being. He stood outside her door and listened for a few minutes, and when she didn't calm down, he knocked on the door quietly and walked inside.

Carly heard Spike come in her room. She felt the bed dip slightly as Spike sat on it, rubbing her arm. He felt her begin to relax after a few minutes.

"Can I talk to you about something?" Carly asked as she sat up and faced Spike.

Spike didn't answer but gave her a small smile and a nod, encouraging her to go on.

"I keep having these dreams of you dying, which you know about. You've also probably guessed that I'm scared to let you go to work in the morning, as demonstrated by my clingy-ness." she said as she gave him a watery chuckle. Spike chuckled as well.

"The thing that I haven't told you is that I think the reason why it's so traumatic is because I feel so helpless. In my dreams I can see you dying but I can never do anything about it. I've tried some things to help that but I just don't know how to make this feeling stop."

Spike let out an audible sigh. He knew that this has been plaguing her mind, he just didn't know how to make it stop.

"Give it some time, sweetheart. I'm sure that things will get better. But, know this: there is not one thing in the world that would stop me from coming home to you. Do you understand?" Spike told her, gently but firmly, making sure that she would understand.

Carly gave him a small smile and nodded.

"Try to get some sleep." Spike said. "Come get me if you need me." Carly scooted under the covers and Spike pulled them up to her neck, smoothing her hair off her forehead and gave her a kiss, like he always did.

*FLASHPOINT*

The next morning, Spike was staring at Lew's old locker, which now had a plaque with a small dedication to him on it. He was thinking about Carly, wondering how long it would take for her to be comfortable with him leaving in the morning. He was also thinking about how much Lew's death had affected all of their lives, but especially his.

He lost his best friends that day; his brother. Carly lost someone that had just started to enter into a space in her heart. The team lost a friend and a teammate, and whoever was coming to replace him had some pretty big shoes to fill.

"Spike. Ready?" asked Greg, as if he was trying to hold back tears of his own. They were getting a new teammate today, so it was bound to be a little emotional for everyone.

"Sure." Spike said, tearing his eyes away from Lew's meager memorial and turning to walk out of the locker room with Greg.

As they walked into the briefing room, Spike noticed a black woman sitting at the conference table. Spike, not knowing what to do, just looked at her briefly and moved to sit at his spot without acknowledging her.

Spike heard Greg say something about patrolling. Ed, seeming to take notice of Spike's unusual quietness, gave him a look of slight pity before answering Greg, "Yup, good with that."

"Leah Kerns. First day. Welcome. We're gonna take it easy today. I'm sure you remember everyone from the trials, so I'm not going to embarrass you with any speeches." Greg said as greeting to the new person sitting at the table.

Leah smiled and nodded to Greg. "Can I say something?" she asked.

Everyone looked at her as if they weren't expecting her to say anything, but especially not that.

"The floor is yours." Greg said, taking his seat.

Leah gave her speech, but before she was finished they got a call. A young woman, Zoe Granger, was kidnapped by her assumed ex-boyfriend and they were going to try to figure out where she went.

Greg, of course, paired Leah with Spike, which Spike was not happy about. Granted, he didn't have anything against Leah; on the contrary he thought she was a great cop. He guessed his feelings of slight animosity towards her was because he just missed Lew.

Ed, Sam, and Wordy raided the apartment after no one answered the phone only to find that she wasn't there.

Spike and Leah were headed back out to the command truck.

"Greg, what do you want me to do?" Leah asked, keeping pace with Spike.

Greg smiled, seeming to notice her mistake, but responded in patience to her. She was new, and he couldn't expect her to know everything on the first day.

"Word to the wise? You call him 'Boss.'" Spike said, snapping at her slightly. _What is wrong with me? _Spike thought as he rushed off. Spike was losing his cool, and he knew it.

A few minutes later, Spike was sitting in the command truck with the neighbor, Rachel, who called 9-1-1. He was going through cars to try to figure out what the make and model was of the car that had taken Zoe.

"Rachel, the subject's vehicle is speeding away as we speak. Time if kind of important here." Spike said to her, somewhat sarcastically. He was losing his patience quickly.

"Well I guess it had these long, stretched out lights, kind of like cat eyes." Rachel said, shrugging.

"Cat eyes?" Spike asked, going through cars in his mind.

"Sorry."

"No, cat eyes, cat eyes, I can work with cat eyes." Spike started typing away at his computer, trying to narrow down the search results. His mind kept wandering to Carly who was currently at school. Was she having a good day? Did she sleep well last night? Spike hadn't been woken up by her, so he hoped that she had slept soundly.

They had finally been able to figure out what car the subject was driving, which would help them tremendously.

A couple hours later, they discovered that a man that had frequently visited the diner Zoe worked at. Turns out, Zoe looks a lot like the subject's dead daughter. He had gone insane and kept calling Zoe "Wendy," because he honestly believed that who she was.

After a chase through the woods and figuring out where they were, Leah and Sam were hanging on to Dale, who was hanging on to Zoe, who was dangling off the side of a cliff.

Spike was listening to how the events escalated, as he was trying to keep his mind from wandering to Carly and pay attention. Jules was trying to negotiate with Dale, and these particular statements from her seemed to have stabbed him in the heart, reopening the wound that he thought had mostly healed.

"…but I do know what it is like to lose somebody who absolutely had no business dying and to not have a chance to say goodbye. And to be disgusted with people for just walking down the street, acting like the world is the same place… that if you had just done something different he still might be here…"

Just add that to the list of why Spike was not having a good day. First, it was an early morning shift, which Spike did not enjoy because that meant he didn't get to take Carly to school in the morning. Second, Lew's replacement came today, so it was an extra somber day for everyone. Third, this guy had gone insane because his daughter was dead, which lead Spike to worry about Carly more than he already was.

He knew that his job was dangerous, and before that hadn't bothered him too much, but since he was a father now, he was making sure to be extra careful while out in the field so that he could keep his promise and return home to Carly every night.

Anytime they had a call that involved a young woman, or a father, Spike would go insane. He was meaning to talk to Ed and Wordy about what they did about it, because he was sure that they felt the same way. During those calls he was unfocused, easily irritated, and longed more than anything to get home to Carly and hug her so that it would reassure him that she was all right.

And this call was a combination of two strong emotions. The first being that it was the first day with Lew's replacement. He missed Lew more than anything. Even though he pretended that he was okay on the outside most of the time, on the inside he was torn up about it. He hardly slept well either, and even though he didn't have many nightmares, he suffered from insomnia where he would lay awake at night, staring at the ceiling, thinking about Lew and worrying about Carly.

After containing the situation, they headed back to the station to debrief where Leah proudly gave them all bracelets with Lew's name and badge number on it.

Spike felt kind of guilty for how short he had been with Leah earlier. It wasn't her fault that Lew wasn't there, and he should treat her like it was. He just kept staring at the bracelet and smiling slightly, thankful for the small gift and reminder of Lew that he could always keep with him.

After the shift and the debriefing was over, he left in a hurry to get back home to Carly. He hoped that she was all right, that she had a good day.

He walked in the front door and yelled that he was home. He heard her yell back in response that she was in the living room. She was watching the "Twilight Zone," an old television show. She had come to discover that she loved old television and she and Spike would often watch it together.

He took off his jacket, and after hanging it on the hook by the door he went and sat next to her on the couch.

"How was your day?" she asked him, leaning her head on his shoulder.

Spike sighed. He didn't like telling her about the difficult calls, but he knew that she knew him well enough by now to be able to read his emotions pretty well. For example, after a difficult call, Spike was always more eager to see Carly than he was when they didn't have any calls or a fairly easy call to deal with.

"Lew's replacement started today. Leah Kerns. She's a great cop, but of course nothing like Lew. We also had a difficult call, but everyone made it out okay." Spike said to her, giving her a reassuring smile.

Carly smiled back and refocused on the television. After a little while of just leaning on Spike, she started to feel herself drift off to sleep.

Spike, deciding that a nap was a good idea, kicked his shoes off and propped his feet on the coffee table, laying his head on the back of the couch and drifted off to sleep himself. For once, both members of the Scarlatti family were at complete peace.

**A/N: Next chapter, the angstyness will lighten up. Promise. If you want an idea of what happens in the next chapter, leave me a review or shoot me a PM. **


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hola! So as it turns out, the busy-ness is over for a couple days. Finals start Friday, but I could bomb every single one of them and still keep my letter grade. Needless to say, I'm not too concerned about them. **

**Disclaimer: **

Chapter 9

The next morning, Spike decided that a day outing, just him and Carly, was in order. Both had reached their breaking points and needed to get away for a while.

An hour later, they were packed up in Spike's car and on the way to Toronto Zoo, one of the biggest zoos in the world.

Carly was ecstatic. This is the first real outing that Spike and her had together, and the first time she's ever been to the zoo.

Because it was a weekday, the zoo wasn't very crowded. Carly's school had off for the day because of an In-Service day for the faculty and staff.

Spike smiled as he watched his daughter. He had witnessed her turn in to a beautiful young woman in just a few months that she had been living with him. Her nightmares had nearly ceased and she was no longer afraid like she was when he first met her.

Spike and Carly walked around the zoo, admiring the beauty of the various animals. Carly's favorite, surprisingly, was the sea otters. She loved how cute they were, which Spike understood as a typical girl thing to say.

They made their way to the section of the zoo where they could pet the animals. Spike couldn't help but snap a few pictures of her petting and feeding various animals. He wanted to remember this day.

Spike purchased a picture from one of the stations that contained various pictures of the people at the zoo. It was a picture of him and Carly. Carly had a look of awe and excitement as she had her hand wrapped under Spike's arm as she was pointing to the massive tiger. Spike himself was glancing down at her lovingly as he watched how she reacted to the majestic beast. Spike planned on blowing it up and hanging it on the wall in their living room.

About one hundred pictures and several hours later, Spike and Carly loaded up in the car to head back home. Carly had fallen asleep within the first couple minutes of the trip back, the events of the day wearing her out.

Spike carried her inside and laid her on the couch, covering her with a blanket as he went into the kitchen to get dinner ready.

His thoughts went to how much his life had changed in the past couple of months. A few months ago, he was a thirty-something year old bachelor who was still living with his parents. He was a responsible person then because of his job; he had to be in order to be on the SRU. But, he has seen ways in which he had changed because of the new addition to his life.

He was no longer only looking out for himself. And while he had always wanted children, he never imagined that it would have been in this way. If he had known about his only child out there in the world, he would have done something about it.

Because of his job, he has seen some horror stories within the foster care system. He would never choose to send any child into that system because of all the trauma and abuse he has witnessed.

He felt guilty for his lack of knowledge of Carly's existence. If he had known, he would have dropped everything to take care of them. Her mother was one of the only women that Spike had ever truly loved, and it warmed his heart knowing that Carly had been a result of that love. He just hoped that he would be able to have a hand in molding her into a woman as amazing as her mother was.

***FLASHPOINT***

"_Who's my Dad, Mommy?" Eight-year-old Carly asked her mother. Annabelle sighed as she sat next to her daughter on her bed, stroking her hair._

"_He's a police officer in Toronto, baby." Annabelle said as she continued to stroke Carly's hair. _

"_Why doesn't he live with us?" Carly asked, looking up at her mother._

"_His job was just starting to take off. He was getting promotions, in that he was getting better jobs. While we weren't planning on having a child, I wouldn't have it any other way."_

"_Does he know about me?" Carly asked her mother, thoroughly confused._

"_No. I never told him." Annabelle said, a hint of regret in her voice._

"_Why not?" Carly said, tearing up a little bit._

"_I didn't think I should at the time. Now, looking back I know that I should have. Hindsight is always 20/20, baby, and I know that I made a mistake in not telling him about you." Annabelle said, letting a tear escape down her cheek._

_She looked down at Carly who was mulling those words over in her head. Annabelle could tell that Carly was confused and was trying to figure it out in the small brain of hers._

"_Do you think that he would like me?" Carly asked, her lower lip trembling slightly in worry._

"_Oh, baby, your father will love you. If he knew about you, he would stop at nothing to make sure that you were safe and happy." Annabelle said, letting a few more tears fall unheeded down her face. _

"_Why don't you tell him, Mommy?" Carly asked, letting a few tears of her own fall. _

"_I don't think it would be safe for you. He has a dangerous job, and I don't know if it would be the best situation for either of us to be in." _

"_Oh. I wish I could have known him." Carly said, disappointed. _

"_Me, too. Some day he'll find us again. And when he finds you, he will stop at nothing in order to keep you, even if he has to move mountains." Annabelle said, pressing a kiss to Carly's forehead. "Baby girl, you have no idea how much he's going to love you…"_

***FLASHPOINT***

Carly woke up with a smile on her face. In her dream, she relived a conversation that she had with her mother when she was eight. She always hoped that she would find her Dad, and now that her dreams were finally reality, she couldn't be more thankful.

What her Mom told her was true: Spike stopped at nothing until he took her in and began to help her heal from the trauma that she had experienced. She couldn't have asked for a better father.

She noticed that she was on the couch, and judging by the sounds coming from the kitchen, she assumed that Spike was cooking dinner.

She walked in quietly and wrapped her arms around his waist and smiled as she could almost feel his confusion.

"What's with the sudden affection?" Spike said as he turned in her arms and wrapped his arms around her, with one hand rubbing her back as he held her head to his chest with his other hand.

"I just wanted to give you a hug, I guess." Carly said, deciding against telling Spike about her dream. She closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of contentment. Being in Spike's arms was one of her favorite places in the world. It's the one place where she felt fully safe, wholly loved, and completely secure.

Spike chuckled as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, finally pulling away.

"Come on, help me set the table." Spike said as he handed her a stack of plates.

She stared at the stack of plates. Spike noticed her confusion and clarified.

"We're having a few guests over for dinner." He said as she took the plates from him.

"Who?" she asked.

"Grandma and Papi, Sam, and Jules." Spike said. Carly hasn't seen them in the past few days and Spike thought that it would be good for her to see them again. Carly knew that she had become close with them all, but especially Sam. They texted each other often. Spike knew that Sam regarded Carly as a little sister and that Carly viewed Sam as her big brother. He was okay with this because he knew that Carly needed people in her life to take care of and love her, and he trusted Sam to do just that.

"Really?!" She exclaimed as her face lit up with excitement. Even though she just saw them all recently, she missed them all.

Spike smiled and nodded in return, his face filled with amusement at her reaction. He turned back to the stove and finished getting the main dish ready. The others were bringing side dishes and desserts so that he wouldn't have to do it all on his own. His mother, being the Italian woman that she is, tried to get Spike to let her do all the cooking, but Spike insisted on doing it himself. He didn't want to burden her with having to cook it all and then bring it over to his house.

About thirty minutes later, their guests arrived. Carly went and hugged them all and even became emotional when she hugged Sam. She hadn't seen him since she spent the night at her house when he helped her through a lot of the things that she was struggling with.

Sam pulled away and swiped at the tears at her cheeks with his thumbs. Carly wasn't sobbing by any means, but she had missed him, so she let a few tears fall unheeded down her face.

"I missed you too, squirt." Sam said, smiling when she punched him in the arm.

"Hey now, I didn't say that I missed you." Carly said in fake defiance, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Then how do you explain the tears?" Sam asked, poking her in the ribs, earning him a giggle from Carly. Carly looked at him and opened her mouth a few times to try to say something snarky in response, but was coming up empty.

"That's what I thought." Sam said, slinging an arm around her shoulders and walking into the dining room where Spike had dinner ready.

Carly was telling everyone about their day at the zoo: how she saw so many animals of all kinds. She even pulled out the picture that one of the camp staff had taken of them and showed it to everyone with pride. They all agreed that it needed to be hung on the wall.

A couple hours after dinner was served, it was getting late, so everyone started heading out to go back home for the night. Carly and Jules were sitting on the couch talking when everyone else had left. They had arranged for a girl outing later that weekend, which Spike "okayed" of course, and after hugging Carly and teasingly telling her to behave herself, she left too.

Spike and Carly spent the next few minutes cleaning up the dishes and leftover food and then settled on to the couch.

Carly pulled out the movie "Elf" even though it was the middle of summer. She wanted to watch a comedy to end off the great day that she's had.

While Spike went in to the kitchen to pop popcorn, she went upstairs to change into her pajamas and pull her hair up into a messy bun.

She came downstairs, grabbed a blanket off the back of a couch and wrapped herself in it, snuggling against Spike.

Carly nearly peed herself when it got to the part in the movie when Buddy got hit by a taxi. She always peeled with laughter at that part, and she had no idea why she thought it was so funny.

Carly fell asleep a little over halfway through the movie, and after the movie was over, Spike just let the credits roll as he sat back, allowing himself to indulge in Carly's close presence a little longer. He had thirteen years to make up for, after all.

He listened to Carly as she gave a deep sigh, thinking that she woke up. Spike started rubbing his hand up and down her back, hoping to wake her up gently so he could get her to bed without startling her.

She woke up a few minutes later and instead of getting up, she snuggled down into Spike further. Spike chuckled and wrapped his arms around her and sat up, pulling them both up.

"Come on. Let's get you to bed." Spike said.

Carly groaned tiredly held up her arms. "Carry me?" she asked dolefully, her voice scratchy from sleeping.

Spike snickered and asked, "Aren't you getting a little big for this?"

"Oh well. You're strong." She said, not putting her arms down or moving from the couch. Spike picked her up and carried her upstairs, gently setting her down and tucking her in.

"Sleep well, munchkin." Spike said as he smoothed her hair off her head and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"Goodnight, Dad." Carly said. She was getting used to calling Spike "Dad" and even liked it. It reminded her that she was no longer alone and that she finally had a family.

Spike settled in to his own bed for the night after brushing his teeth and changing into a gray t-shirt and black sweatpants. He sighed in contentment as he thought about how thankful he was for his daughter. He just hoped that the next few years won't fly by so that he can enjoy his time with her before she grows up and leaves the house.

**A/N: Hope everyone is doing well! Blessings.**


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: I'll be gone for the next two weeks, so I wanted to post this a little earlier than I usually do as I will not get the opportunity for a while. Hopefully this will hold you over until the next chapter. :]**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Flashpoint. If I did, Spike and Sam would get way more screen time…**

* * *

Chapter 10

A couple of weeks later, Spike was at the station when he got a call from Carly's school.

"Hello?" Spike said as he answered the phone.

"_Mr. Scarlatti, this is Mrs. Brown: Carly's math teacher."_

Spike felt his heart drop a little bit. The school never called with good news.

"Yes, what can I do for you?"

"_I was wondering if you would be able to come in to meet with me this afternoon to discuss Carly's grades." _

"I get off shift at one this afternoon, so any time after that works for me." Spike said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He felt his heart drop a little further as his suspicions were confirmed.

"_Does two o'clock work for you?"'_

"Sounds good. I'll see you then." They said their goodbyes and hung up.

Spike was concerned for Carly. He thought that she was making so much progress since everything has happened. At least, she appeared fine most of the time.

Spike started thinking back a few weeks to see if Carly had given him any signs that things weren't okay. He remembered a few times last week when he asked Carly how school and her classes were going and she had just said, "fine." Spike didn't want to push it at the time, assuming that she just wasn't having a good week, but thinking back, maybe he should have.

Spike hadn't moved from his spot where he was standing in the locker room. He didn't even notice Greg walk into the room.

"You okay, buddy?" Greg asked, slapping him on the back to try to draw him out of his trance.

"Uh… yeah." Spike said, trying to regroup his thoughts. "I just got a call from Carly's math teacher. She said that she wanted to meet with me today to discuss Carly's grades. I was just trying to think back to see if she had given me any signs that things weren't going well with her."

Greg put one hand on his waist and ran the other hand over his balding head. "Has Carly said anything to you that has indicated that she was struggling in school?"

"I mean, I've asked her how school was going and she always said 'fine.' I didn't want to press her about it at the time but now I think I should have." Spike sighed and ran a frustrated hand down his face.

"Math is normally her strong suit. I don't understand why she's not doing well." he continued.

"Maybe there's something else going on that she's not telling you. I would say to just go and talk to her teacher, and then talk to Carly to see what she's thinking it. Take one step at a time. If you need anything, you know I'm here for both of you." Greg said, patting Spike on the shoulder as he turned and left the locker room.

* * *

Two o'clock rolled around, and Spike knocked on Mrs. Brown's classroom door to meet with her.

"Ah, Mr. Scarlatti. I'm so glad that you could come in today." said Mrs. Brown, shaking Spike's hand.

"It's not a problem. What did you need to talk to me about?" Spike said, taking a seat in front on Mrs. Brown's desk.

"I wanted to talk to you to see how Carly was doing." Mrs. Brown said, taking her glasses off and folding her hands on her desk.

"As far as I can tell, she's doing fine. After she came to live with me a few months ago, she seemed to really be thriving until…." Spike trailed off, a light bulb turning on in his head.

"Mr. Scarlatti?" Mrs. Brown asked, noticing his change in demeanor.

"She was thriving until she experienced the death of a close friend a couple weeks ago. I thought that she was doing mostly better, but I guess her grades would suggest otherwise." Spike said, running a weary hand over his face for what was probably the hundredth time that day.

"If I could suggest something, Mr. Scarlatti." Mrs. Brown said. Spike motioned with his hand, prompting her to continue.

"Carly is a bright girl. I can tell that there's something else going on with her. It could perhaps be the death of her friend, but it could be something else, too. I would suggest talking with her about it and seeing what's going on." Mrs. Brown said.

"As for her grades," she continued. "At the beginning of the semester, she was getting mostly 'Bs' on her assignments and tests. Shortly after she moved in with you, her grades improved and she was getting mostly 'As'; that is, until about a week ago, she was getting mostly 'Ds' and 'Fs'." Spike sighed in frustration as he sat back in his chair, crossing one ankle over his knee, running his hand over his face again.

"I'm willing to give her an opportunity to redo some of the assignments to get some points back. I know that Carly is a bright girl and is capable of being a straight-A student." Spike thanked Carly's teacher and left to go wait outside for Carly.

* * *

Carly walked out of the school doors and saw Spike leaning against the wall ahead of her. He looked confused, even concerned before he saw her. Once he saw her, his expression softened and he started walking forward to meet her. She smiled and waved to a few of her friends as she half-ran half-skipped to meet him.

Carly gave him a side hug as they started walking to Spike's car.

"I didn't know you were picking me up today!" exclaimed Carly, slipping her hand in Spike's.

"I was here meeting with one of your teachers, so I thought I would stick around a little longer and take you home myself." Spike said as he opened the passenger door for Carly.

"Well I'm glad. It beats freezing to death on that bus, anyways." Carly said as she reached over and turned up the heat, rubbing her hands together and blowing into them to try to warm them back up.

A few seconds later, Carly said, "Wait. Did you say that you had a meeting with my teacher?"

Spike nodded.

"Which one?" Carly asked, her tone sounding… sad, almost.

"Mrs. Brown." Spike said, tightening his grip on the wheel.

"What going on, sweetheart?" Spike asked. As soon as he said that he had met with Mrs. Brown, he saw Carly's countenance change. She went from being excited to see Spike to moody. She was currently chewing on her bottom lip, staring out the window.

Instead of turning on the street to go home, Spike kept driving, hoping that Carly would be more apt to talk in the truck rather than at home where she could just lock herself in her room.

"I don't want to talk about it." Carly said after a few seconds, folding her arms over her chest in defiance.

While they were stopped at a red light, Spike took the opportunity to take in her appearance. Her hair was a little greasy as if it hadn't been washed in a couple days. She had dark circle under her eyes, and it looks as if she lost a little weight.

Spike felt remorseful for not noticing this earlier. He assumed that she had just given extra care in trying to hide the dark circles and weight loss from him. He noticed that she was wearing slightly baggy clothes, but whether that was from the weight loss or her choice, he had no idea.

"When was the last time you washed your hair?" asked Spike, turning his attention back to the road when the light turned green.

Carly shrugged, not wanting to give Spike an answer.

"All right. You need to tell me what is going on. This is non-negotiable." Spike said firmly. On one hand, he didn't want to force her to talk if she didn't want to, but he could tell that she was hurting and he wanted to know why and what he could do to fix it.

"Ashley…" Carly said, crying silently. Spike turned the car around and headed back home as soon as Carly started to cry. He could tell that she was about to have a complete breakdown, and he wanted them to be home for when the fallout happened; not stuck in the truck.

A few minutes later, they parked in front of the house, and Spike reached in the backseat, grabbed her backpack, and walked around and opened the door for Carly.

Once inside, Spike told Carly gently, "Go upstairs and take a shower and change. I'll make some tea. We can talk after that." Carly, with tears still running down her face went upstairs to do as Spike instructed.

About fifteen minutes later, Carly reemerged, looking a little fresher than she did a few minutes ago. Carly plopped herself on the barstool across from where Spike was standing. He pushed a hot cup of tea in her hands, hoping to help calm her frayed nerves.

"All right, now tell me what happened." Spike said. "What happened with Ashley?" Carly wrapped both of her hands around the hot mug and took a calming breath.

"Ashley died a few days ago." she said. Spike could tell that she was desperately trying to hold the tears back, so he reached across the counter and took one of her hands in both of his.

"What happened?" Spike asked quietly, tears of his own forming in his eyes, but he was able to prevent them from actually falling.

"Car accident. The guy was drunk and hit her side of the car and she died on impact. Everyone else is okay though." Carly said, the tears flowing freely down her face now.

After moving in with Spike, Carly had switched schools. Ashley had been one of the first people to welcome and befriend her. After that, the two had been inseparable. They had most classes together and ate lunch together. Carly even went over to her house one weekend for a sleepover.

Carly was the type of girl that didn't have very many other friends her age. She usually became annoyed with their immaturity and petty drama. If she did have friends her age, most of them were guys, anyways. They tended to be less dramatic than girls. Carly preferred adults as friends, which is why she was so close with Sam and Jules. They don't create drama most of the time, and they aren't immature.

Ashley was different though. Like Carly, she didn't care about getting a boyfriend, or makeup, or the latest fashion and trends, or even the latest on the hottest celebrities like most girls their age. They both enjoyed sports, books, and anything outdoors. They understood what the other person was thinking without having to say a word.

Spike remembered hearing something about a car accident resulting in one death, but he didn't think anything of it. It's not like car accidents were uncommon in a large city like Toronto. Spike sighed as he continued to hold Carly's hand, letting her regain her composure. He could tell that she wasn't finished yet and chose to remain silent.

"I just feel so guilty. Ashley had asked me that evening if I wanted to go with her to the mall instead of going to her brother's recital with their family. If I had gone she wouldn't have been in that car and would still be alive. It's all my fault!" Carly wailed.

"Oh – no, no, no, no, no." Spike said, quickly coming around the counter and kneeling in front of her, turning her so that she was facing him.

"This is **not **your fault. You didn't know that there was going to be a drunk guy on the roads that night. There's nothing you could have done to prevent it, so I don't want you thinking that you should have done something differently. Do you understand me?" Spike said gently, but firmly. Even though he understood where she was coming from – he felt the same way when Lew died – he didn't want her to live with the burden of her death. It wasn't her burden to carry, and he wanted to make sure that she understood that.

"Come here." Spike said, plucking her off the stool and carrying her into the living room. He sat sideways on the couch and drew Carly across his legs, tucking her head underneath his chin. He rubbed her back and allowed her to cry, knowing that it was the catharsis that she so desperately needed.

Spike didn't know how long they had been sitting there, nor did he care. As a father, he wanted to make sure that his child was okay, and it became obvious that evening that she was far from it.

One drenched t-shirt and several tissues later, Carly finally began to calm down to the occasional hiccup. She kept her head on Spike's chest and tried to even her breathing as she listened to his heartbeat. It reminded her of life; how Ashley's was no longer beating. This drove her to thankfulness; thankful that Spike was _right there_ and he is _okay. _

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Spike asked. Even though he understood the pain Carly was going through, he didn't understand why he was just now finding this out.

"Because I thought it was all my fault. I didn't want you to be disappointed in me." Carly said, gripping a handful of Spike's shirt as if she was afraid that he might disappear.

"I want you to listen to me when I say this." Spike began. Taking a deep breath, he continued. "If you are having a problem, even if you think that I might be disappointed in you, I want you to come to me so I can help you. You're not going to do yourself any good if you try to keep feelings like that a secret. Do you understand?"

Carly nodded against his chest and closed her eyes.

"Just rest now. I've got you." Spike murmured reassuringly.

"I'm afraid that if I fall asleep I'll have more nightmares." Carly whispered.

_Ah-ha. _Spike thought. He had guessed that she was having trouble sleeping, but she didn't address it to him directly. He just wanted to take one issue at a time.

"I can't promise that the nightmares will go away completely, but I promise you that, in time, they will get better." Spike said, trying to reassure her.

"Shhhhh." he whispered, trying to calm her into sleeping, knowing that her body needed it.. He continued to rub his hand over her slightly damp hair as he held her securely to him.

* * *

_Dear Journal,_

_I told Dad what happened with Ashley. I didn't want to at first because I was afraid that he would be mad at me and blame me for her death. I know that it sounds silly, but if I was blaming myself, couldn't he blame me also? I didn't want to distract him or burden him, either. I know that his job requires 100% of his attention, and I didn't want my problems to be the reason he gets killed or something._

_So, Lew's gone, and now Ashley is gone, too. I just try to not think about it, but it's really hard to. I try focusing on the good things that have happened: like finding my Dad. It's works for a little while, but I end up thinking about Lew and Ashley in the end. _

_I keep having nightmares about Ashley, too. I'm surprised Dad didn't know that before I told him. I don't usually wake up screaming, but he tends to be a light sleeper and almost always comes in when I have a nightmare. I've thought about going into his room, but I know he needs his rest so I just leave him alone. _

_Hopefully I'll sleep tonight. It's starting to become obvious that I'm not sleeping. I've probably lost a few pounds and there are these gross dark circles under my eyes. Makeup can only hide so much…_

_Dad also told me that Mrs. Brown was going to let me redo the assignments. He called her that evening when he found out what happened. From what he told me, Mrs. Brown understood completely and felt guilty because she didn't figure that out earlier. I'm glad she's going to let me redo the assignments. I feel really bad about failing basically all of my assignments in the past week. _

_For now, I actually feel really tired. Crying your eyes out will do that to you, I guess. _

_Waiting for the pouring rain to end._

_Carly Scarlatti_

* * *

**A/N: So, if any of you are curious about why I write the stories I write, check out my profile page. I think that will give you a greater appreciation for my writing. **


	12. Background Information

**A/N: I saw Chicagofireforever do this on her story and I wanted to do the same on mine because I thought it was a great idea, for this point in the story anyways.**

**I feel like all the information that we know on Carly and her relationships with everyone on Team One has been scattered, so I'm going to write all that here.**

Carly, Spike's daughter, is a thirteen-year-old girl with dark brown wavy hair. She's about 4'10'' and has a small frame. She loves sports (especially volleyball) and reading. Her best friend was Ashley, whom we found out was killed in a car accident in the last chapter (super bummer!). Some of her other friends will be introduced in a couple chapters.

Carly's mother, Annabelle Stanton, was killed one year ago (at the point of the beginning of the story). Annabelle didn't tell Spike about Carly because, since Spike was a police officer at the time, she didn't think Carly would be in a safe environment. After Annabelle died, Carly then went to live in a foster home, where the foster Dad was abusive. When Spike and Jules caught him abusing Carly, he was promptly arrested and thrown in prison. (he may or may not get out of prison and come after Carly in a future chapter…)

Carly is especially close with Jules and Sam in the story. I have a much harder time writing Jules/Carly moments than Jules/Sam moments, but I promise there will be more Jules in the future. She views both of them as older siblings, and they both view her as a younger sibling. On the other hand, Carly adores Spike and trust him immensely, leaning on his strength to get her through the difficult times. Spike in turn provides support, comfort, and advice to Carly when she needs it. He is very protective of her (as everyone on the team is) and tries to be there for her as much as possible because of the difficult past that she had.

Sam and Jules are not dating as of yet, but I plan on pairing them up in a future chapter. There will be some things in my stories that will be AU, like Sam and Jules' relationship timeline for one. They may be dating at a point in my story when in the show (at the same point) they may not be. I'll figure that out as I continue to write.

**That should clear things up if anyone is confused. If there's something that still isn't clear, leave me a review or send me a private message. Hope you all have a great week! Blessings.**


	13. Chapter 11

**A/N: This was a fun chapter to write. I hope you all agree. Please review!**

**Disclaimer: I only own Flashpoint in my dreams.**

Chapter 11

A month had come and gone, and Carly was almost back to where she was emotionally before Lew and Ashley died. The first week after she told Spike about Ashley's death she had horrible nightmares where she would wake up screaming. No doubt she was blaming herself for what happened to Ashley, because she was convinced that if she went to the mall with Ashley when she originally asked then she would still be alive.

Spike had Carly meet with Greg twice a week so that he could try to help Carly, given that he wasn't so close to the situation. The first couple of times Carly was defiant, not wanting to let Greg or anyone know what she was thinking.

"_So, why don't you tell me what happened…" Greg began. He had pulled out his notebook and a pen so he could jot down a few notes if need be. They were meeting in his office so that Carly would hopefully feel more at ease and open up to him._

_Carly merely huffed at Greg and crossed her arms over her chest, her body language telling Greg that she most certainly did _not _want to talk to him and wasn't interested in what he had to say._

_Greg knew what had happened to Ashley. Spike had told him everything that Carly told him that night. What Greg was hoping would happen was that Carly would go easy on him and would open up to him. Of course nothing is as easy as you wish._

"_I have been told by your father that you've been having a hard time dealing with Lew and Ashley's death. Is there something in particular that's been bothering you about those? Something you wish you would have done differently?" Greg said a few moments later after getting no response from Carly._

_She crossed her right leg over her left, making her posture even more defensive than it already was. _

_Meanwhile, Spike was pacing anxiously by Winnie's desk. He tried sitting to calm down a few times, but after a couple minutes resumed his pacing. He was running his thumb over his bottom lip apprehensively and was deep in thought when he heard Greg's office door open._

_Carly walked swiftly out of the room and walked right past Spike and Winnie both, not acknowledging either of their presence. Greg followed a few moments later and waited until Carly was out of earshot before he began._

_Apparently he had tried to get Carly to talk several times, but every time he tried to get her to open up to him she retreated within herself even more. Greg suggested to Spike that he bring her back in a couple days when she had gotten some time to think about the deaths and they weren't so fresh in her mind._

_He also suggested that Spike try to talk to her some more about it. She didn't need a licensed psychologist to help her with her problems necessarily. Even just talking with someone who loved and cared about her could help._

A few days after that Spike took her to talk to Greg again, which Carly wasn't happy about. But, they ended up talking for almost two hours and, even though Carly didn't want to admit it, she felt much more at peace with the situation than she had previously. Her nightmares stopped after their first session and she was able to return to a full night of sleep. It was at that point that Spike decided to send Carly back to school; hoping that by sticking to her routine she would heal more rapidly.

Now, about a month later, it was a beautiful spring day in May. Carly was on her way to the station from school, texting Spike to let him know that she wanted to walk because of the beautiful weather. Spike was okay with this because her school was about a mile from the station.

When she arrived, she smiled and waved at Winnie who looked to be busy on a call. Carly knew better than to interrupt her when she was busy, knowing that lives could potentially be in her hands.

She went into the girls' locker room to change into some workout clothes and started humming to pass the time.

She didn't even hear Jules come in behind her, which Jules of course took full advantage of. She walked up behind Carly and tickled her sides to which Carly screamed and almost looked as if she wanted to crawl up the wall behind her.

Once Carly realized that it was only Jules, she clutched her chest and started laughing while breathing heavily to try to calm her racing heart down.

"Jules, you nearly scared me half to death!" Carly half-yelled while gently pushing Jules shoulder.

"Yeah well you weren't paying attention and I wanted to make you laugh. Looks like I won." teased Jules while giving Carly a light shove in return.

"How was school?" Jules inquired as she started changing into her own workout clothes. Their shift had just started, which is why Carly was at the station with them instead of at home. Spike was okay with her being at home alone for a couple of hours, but he didn't want her alone for eight hours. He would have just left her with his parents, but they were visiting with family in Italy. Ed told him that he was being overprotective, but Spike merely shrugged it off.

"It was actually really good today." Carly began. "One of my teachers was out sick so we had a substitute. That was rough because he was pretty strict, but other than that it was good."

"Was there anything in particular that made it so good?" Jules said in a somewhat eager tone, gently elbowing Carly a few times.

Carly, understanding immediately what Jules was asking turned a bright shade of pink.

"Maybe…" Carly said, trying to hide her grin while still blushing slightly.

"What's his name?" Jules inquired.

"Landon." Carly said. "He's in my math class."

"Is he cute?" Jules asked, playfully tossing a towel in Carly's direction as they turned to head to the gym to begin their workout.

"No, he's completely hideous which is why I have this massive crush on him." Carly said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

Jules glared at her. "Yes, he's cute. He asked me today if I wanted to go to the movies with him on Friday, but I didn't know what to say." Carly said shyly. "I've never been asked out on a date before."

"You know that your Dad is gonna go crazy and probably run a background check on every person Landon has ever talked to, right?" Jules said, grinning. "He might even strap on his gun and go have a conversation with him."

"Probably. Which is why you have to promise me to not tell Dad." Carly said in a low voice, as they made their way to the gym after leaving the locker room.

"Not tell me what?" Spike probed as he walked up beside them.

Carly mentally slapped her forehead as she neglected to check her surroundings before saying that last part.

Carly looked to Jules, silently pleading for help. Jules, coming up with a quick solution, said, "Nothing, just girl stuff."

Carly looked at Jules with a twinkle in her eyes, silently thanking her for saving her from having to tell Spike something she dreaded from the first day she met him. Although she thought that Spike would be fine with it, she was worried that he would go a little overboard like Jules said.

"Oookayyyy…" Spike said, drawing out the syllables, thoroughly confused. He looked at Jules to see if she would give him any idea as to what was going on, but she just smiled at him as they walked to the weight room together.

* * *

Thursday morning came quickly and Carly was about finished getting ready for school. Spike was going to drop her off at school on the way to the station, and she knew that she was going to have to tell him about Landon on the way.

"Carly! Let's go or we're gonna be late!" Spike yelled up the stairs as he grabbed his bag and his keys. Carly came running down the stairs, backpack slung over her shoulder and shoes in hand. Spike tossed her an apple and handed her a mug of hot tea once they were in the truck since she didn't have time to get breakfast this morning.

"I packed some extra food for you since you didn't have time for breakfast." Spike said, pulling away from the curb.

"Thanks." she said, tying her last lace on her shoes.

After a moment, she said, "DoyouthinkthatIcangotothemovieswithmyfriendLandon tomorrownight?" she spit out very quickly. Spike raised both of his eyebrows as he tried to comprehend what she just asked.

"Sorry, sweetie, you're gonna have to repeat that, and much slower this time." Spike said, smirking.

Carly turned a bright shade of red as she repeated the question.

Spike, noticing his daughter's hesitance to ask him, along with her nervously wringing her hands together and flushed cheeks, came to the conclusion that she liked this boy very much. Quite honestly, Spike didn't know how he felt about this.

After thinking for a few seconds, Spike replied with a "maybe."

Carly sighed and slouched in her seat. "That means 'no.'" she said in defeat.

"Not necessarily." Spike countered.

"Yes it does. I know you, Dad. Any time you say 'maybe' you actually mean 'no.'" she argued.

Spike didn't respond, but audibly sighed and focused his attention back on the road as he pulled in front of Carly's school.

As Carly moved to get out of the car, Spike stopped her by putting his hand on her arm.

"I will think about it this morning. I'll send you a text by lunch with my answer." he stated.

Carly was at least a little more hopeful with this answer. She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek and waved goodbye as she walked into the school building.

She wasn't inside for more than ten minutes when Landon approached her.

"Hey." he said, walking up next to her, giving her a light punch on the shoulder. "Has your Dad told you whether or not you can go tomorrow night?"

"He told me this morning that he would let me know by lunch. I was thinking that he was just going to flat out say 'no.' He tends to be a little overprotective of me." she said, taking a seat next to Landon in home room.

"I mean, I'm almost fourteen. I don't see why he doesn't let me make some of my own decisions." she huffed.

"This is coming from the person who wished she had a Dad six months ago…" Landon began. Carly merely glared at him and elbowed him under the table as the teacher began to give announcements.

* * *

"I just don't know what I should tell her." Spike started. He was telling the other guys on the team his dilemma with Carly bringing her first boy home, or at least that's how Spike saw it.

Ed and Wordy agreed that it could be good for her to go out with Landon. Sam thought that Spike should at least meet the guy first and instill the living fear of God in him. While all the guys on the team were protective of Carly, Sam was a little more protective than Ed and Wordy since he was closer to her than they were. Spike still had them all beat though.

"Spike, just think about what she's been through in the past couple of months. This could be really good for her to get out and spend times with friends. If it does start to turn into something more, then maybe you need to sit down with Landon and set some boundaries." Wordy reasoned. Spike thought that it made sense, but every paternal instinct he had in his body went on high alert as soon as he saw Carly blush a shade of red that morning he didn't even know existed.

So he came to the conclusion that he would let Carly go on this outing, but only under one condition. He approached Sam after the other guys had left the locker room to begin their workout.

"Hey Sam, wanna go to the movies tonight?" Spike asked. Sam stood up tall as Spike looked at him mischievously. Sam grinned as he nodded, a plan already forming in their minds.

* * *

Friday evening came, and Carly had just finished putting her outfit on. She was wearing black converse sneakers, black skinny jeans, and an aqua green tank top with a denim button-up shirt. She took one last look in the mirror as she ran downstairs.

Spike had just texted Sam to let him know that he could leave his house. He was going to come pick up Spike and they were going to follow Landon and Carly to the movies. Spike was doing this, not because he didn't trust Carly, but because he didn't trust Landon; a boy he's never met before. If, after the first "date" he was satisfied, he wouldn't go sneaking behind his daughter's back.

Landon showed up a few minutes later to pick up Carly. He had convinced his brother to drive them, which Carly was glad about. Then she wouldn't have to have Spike drive them and have him embarrass them even more than he probably already will.

Spike got up and moved to stand behind Carly as she let Landon in. Carly had agreed to let Spike at least meet Landon if he let them go together. Landon took one look at Spike and swallowed as his eyes widened slightly.

Spike extended his hand to Landon and squeezed a little harder than was completely necessary. He wanted to let Landon know that he meant business and if anything happened to Carly, he would have to deal with Spike.

"Hey, I'm Spike; Carly's Dad." Spike said, staring Landon down.

"Landon." he managed to squeak out. "Pleased to meet you." Landon said after clearing his throat first.

Spike found out that Landon was fifteen and in ninth grade, one year above Carly. He was in Carly's homeroom because his last name was next to hers on the school roster, which is how they determined who was in what homeroom.

"All right kids, have fun but not too much fun." Spike said as he winked at Carly. Carly glared at him and was obviously embarrassed, much to Spike's delight.

Carly left and before Landon could follow, Spike grabbed his arm and said so that only Landon could hear him, "If I find that there's one hair that's out of place on my daughter's head when she gets back, you'll have me and the rest of the SRU to deal with. You hear me?"

Landon nodded frantically and managed to choke out, "yes, sir" before scrambling behind Carly.

"Have a good time!" Spike yelled as he waved goodbye to them. As soon as they were out of sight, Spike grabbed his wallet as he jogged to the passenger side of Sam's car, noticing him pull up.

"Are you sure about this?" Sam asked, even though he already knew the answer. Spike didn't have to say anything, his facial expression said it all.

Spike thought that Landon had made a decent first impression. He was dressed well and made regular eye contact with Spike. He also noticed that he let Carly go ahead of him out the door. He seemed nice enough, to which Spike was very thankful.

They rode in silence to the movie theater and waited a few minutes until the previews before the movie were almost over, ensuring that Landon and Carly would have found a seat.

They bought their tickets and made their way into the theater, sitting a few rows directly behind Landon and Carly. Once the movie started, it seemed that Landon made no attempt at putting his arm around Carly, in fact, it seemed as if he hardly acknowledged her at all except for looking at her and laughing at a few funny parts in the movie. Spike was actually somewhat disappointed because he almost _wanted _to have a "few words" with Landon.

Spike and Sam scrambled out of their seats after the movie finished before they were seen and hid in the lobby. They looked quite pathetic, actually, hiding behind a cardboard cutout.. Landon and Carly came out a few minutes later and were chatting away. Landon seemed a little tense, but whether it was because he really obviously liked Carly and didn't know how to act around her or because he was nervous about what Spike told him; he didn't know.

Landon and Carly stayed in the lobby for a few minutes, Carly twirling her hair and giggling every so often at something Landon said. Spike and Sam exchanged knowing glances and continued to observe them from their hiding spot behind a cardboard cutout.

They left a few minutes later and Spike and Sam rushed out to the car and back to the house so they could get there before Landon and Carly. Spike and Sam darted in the house and almost dived on the couches, flipping on the TV to a hockey game. Not five seconds later, the front door opened and they came in..

Spike noticed how Landon tensed the moment he laid eyes on Spike, and even tensed further (if that was even possible) when Sam came and stood behind Spike a few seconds later. Spike nodded his approval at Landon, and after chatting politely with them for a few minutes, Landon left.

After Landon left, Carly leaned against the door and gave a content sigh, trying but failing to hide her blushing cheeks from the two people who knew her best.

She smiled and cheekily said, "goodnight!" as she darted up the stairs to her room. Sam and Spike exchanged goodbyes as Sam left to head to his apartment for the night.

After locking the doors and arming the security system, he went upstairs and knocked on Carly's door. After giving her consent for him to enter, he walked in and sat on the edge of her bed, facing her.

Just at the moment her phone vibrated, alerting her to a text message. She read it and giggled, the blush returning from her cheeks as she read Landon's text. After noticing what she did, she cleared her throat and tried to keep a pensive face, but it was already too late.

He motioned with his hands for her to move over on the bed and sat next to her, leaning his back against the headboard. Carly sighed and let her head fall back to rest on the headboard, knowing that a speech was probably coming. Spike noticed her body language and smiled to himself.

"No worries, sweetheart, I'm not going to give you any long speeches tonight." Spike said. Sometimes Carly forgot that Spike could often read the play of emotions on her face like a book. She often tried to hide her emotions from him but found it to be increasingly difficult as she grew to be more comfortable around him.

"Good, because I'm not in the mood." Carly said as she half-glared at Spike. He gave her a playful jab with his elbow, light enough to not actually hurt her. She shoved him gently in return and they both laughed.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm happy that you've found a good friend in Landon." Carly inaudibly gasped and looked up at Spike, obviously surprised. She was expecting him to tell her that they were forbidden to date until they were a certain age, with these set boundaries, etc.

"You've been through a rough time in the past couple of months. I think that it could ultimately be helpful for you and might give you a push in the right direction."

Carly smiled at him and thought about what he said for a few minutes. Spike watched her as she thought.

"What's the catch?" Carly asked. Spike smiled at her. She knew him too well sometimes, almost too much for her own good.

"I don't want you 'dating.'" Spike said, making quote signs with his middle and index fingers on both hands. "You guys are allowed to hang out together, but you're still too young to date, I'm afraid. That's going to have to wait a couple of years. I'm sorry, sweetheart." he said quietly, almost at a whisper.

Carly sighed. "I knew you were going to say something like that." she said, thoroughly disappointed.

"It's better to be friends with boys at this age anyways." Spike said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, trying to comfort her even though he knew that she was discouraged. "I'm only telling you this because as your father, it's my job to protect you. I know what was going through my head at fifteen. I don't want you dating a guy that is hardly out of childhood."

After a few minutes, Carly said, "I suppose you're right. I knew it wasn't a good idea anyways, but I guess I didn't care because I really liked him."

Spike sat with her for a little while longer, before pulling her into a side hug and kissing her head.

"Goodnight, sweetheart. I'll see you in the morning." Spike said, rising from the bed and moving to leave.

"Goodnight, Dad." Carly said. Even though she was still frustrated with Spike, she didn't have the energy to fight with him. In her experience, fighting with Spike was useless anyways. It seemed as if he always knew what she was thinking, so he was always able to win arguments. It didn't stop Carly from trying, but lately she just hadn't been in the mood.

Spike paused with his hand on the doorknob, and thought for a moment before speaking.

"I'm proud of you, Carls." Spike said, smiling at her.

Carly was at a loss for words, but she composed herself enough to say, "Love you, Dad."

"Love you too, sweetie." Spike said, closing the door behind him gently.

Carly started silently crying. Spike was the first to tell her that he was proud of her. Even though her Mom loved her very much, she never told her that, even though, deep down, Carly knew that she was. She couldn't be happier with the way things turned out.

She opened her journal and started writing:

_Dear Journal,_

_I went to the movies with Landon tonight. I had so much fun. I couldn't believe that Dad actually let me go. I'm surprised he didn't insist on coming with us or something…_

_He told me afterwards that he was happy that I found a good friend in Landon, but then he said that he didn't want us "dating"… we could hang out as friends though._

_I really wanted to fight with him at first because I didn't think he was being very reasonable. I decided against it after thinking about it for a couple minutes. I didn't want to fight with him because I knew I would lose anyways, and then I would probably get into trouble. I guess he knows what teenage boys are like since he was one once…_

_I don't know. I guess I'll try just being friends with Landon. I don't know how well it will work, though since I really like him. How could I not? He's super cute._

_He then told me that he was proud of me, which really caught me off guard. It made me feel good, though. No one has ever told me that before. _

_So I go to sleep with a smile on my face, knowing that I have been incredibly lucky to have such an awesome Dad and friend._

_Carly Scarlatti_

* * *

**A/N: Please leave a review! They make my life. :]**


	14. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Around 11:30 the next morning, Spike was just wrapping up his 12am-12pm shift at the station when his cell phone rang.

"Hello?" Spike answered.

"_Mr. Scarlatti? This is Mr. Pierce, the head administrator here at Toronto Private. Your daughter, Carly, was in a fight during lunch hour and I was wondering if you would be able to come meet with us."_

"Absolutely. I'll be there in five." Spike was baffled. He had never known Carly to be violent in the few months that he had known her. He was concerned about her, sure, but didn't think that she was going to do anything like that. Something must have happened that made her snap.

He went and told Greg what had happened and was allowed to leave about twenty minutes early from his shift.

Five minutes later, he walked into the head administrator's office at Carly's school. He immediately spotted Carly who was sitting on one of two chairs in front of Mr. Pierce's desk, holding an ice pack to her eye.

"What happened?" Spike asked, immediately concerned. Carly sat there pensively, not wanting to acknowledge Spike or Mr. Pierce.

"Mr. Scarlatti, thank you for coming so quickly." began Mr. Pierce, rising to shake Spike's hand. Spike pulled his chair closer to Carly and looked over her, checking for other wounds. He noticed a few other scrapes on her face, as well as a few cuts and bruises on her arms and knuckles. There were probably other bruises that he couldn't see.

"What happened?" Spike repeated, directing the question to Mr. Pierce.

"According to a few witnesses, Carly was sitting by herself in the corner of the cafeteria when three girls, Makenzie, Tiffany, and Haley approached her. Eyewitnesses say that Carly ignored them when they said something to her. Shortly after that, Carly snapped and hit Makenzie in the nose, at which point Tiffany started to fight Carly. They fought for a few minutes until a couple security guards separated them. The other three girls were sent back to class a few minutes later and Carly was brought here until we could get to the bottom of this." Mr. Pierce stated, looking over a few papers in front of him. He removed his glasses and folded his hands in front of him as he looked at Carly.

"Now, I know it's probably not as simple as that. I know those girls can be really mean, so they probably said something to get a reaction out of you. Mind telling us what they said?" Mr. Pierce said more gently.

Carly looked at Spike who nodded, encouraging her to go on. After taking a deep, calming breath, she spoke. "Well, this is what happened…"

_Lunch had quickly become Carly's least favorite part of the day after Ashley died. They used to sit together and talk about what had happened so far that day and about the current gossip and lies that were being spread around the school like wildfire._

_It had been different after Ashley died. She didn't know who she was going to sit with. She would possibly consider sitting with Landon except he didn't have the same lunch hour with her; in fact, none of her friends did anymore._

_At her school, there were the "popular" kids and "nerds" and "jocks," like almost every other high school. The most popular girl by her school's standards was Makenzie Cox, a tenth grader. She was on the cheer squad, her Dad owned his own company, and they lived in the biggest house in the city. Comparatively, Carly was trailer trash. _

_For whatever reason, Carly and Makenzie _really _did not get along. Carly made it a point to stand up for herself and her friends, which Makenzie wasn't used to. Most people just let her say whatever she wanted and let her walk all over them. Makenzie was definitely a bully and everyone knew it, but everyone wanted to be her at the same time._

_On this particular day, Carly was sitting by herself in the corner of the cafeteria, wistfully looking out the window. She didn't enjoy school anymore these days and wanted more than anything to go home and retreat to the solitude of her bedroom._

_Carly noticed Makenzie and her two sidekicks, Haley and Tiffany, making their way over to where Carly was sitting. She rolled her eyes and ignored them, hoping that they would say whatever they wanted to say and then move on to the next helpless person._

"_Oh, nice shirt, Carly! Where did you get that? Goodwill?" Makenzie sneered, looking completely satisfied. Carly just took another bite of her food and kept looking out the window, ignoring them. She wasn't in the mood to fight with them again today._

_Tiffany chimed in. "Did you hear about her and Ashley? I heard that they were lovers. Must really suck to lose your girlfriend, huh?" This made Carly enraged. She was sure that they could tell that they struck a nerve, but she still continued to hold her tongue. Of course she wasn't a lesbian and everyone knew it. Makenzie and company just knew how to push her buttons, and they were doing a good job of doing it. _

_Haley joined. "Well, the world is a better place anyways. The less trailer-trash-lesbians in the world, the better." The three girls started laughing, but stopped as soon as Carly slapped her hands on the table. She lunged forward and punched Makenzie in the nose, making blood gush almost immediately. Carly was sure she broke it._

_Chaos ensued. Makenzie and her friends started flipping out and screaming. Tiffany wasn't as preppy as the other two (she had older brothers) and started to fight Carly. The two of them rolled around on the floor as they tried to hit, bite, kick, or pull the other person's hair. Carly didn't know how long they fought, but she knew that she definitely had the upper hand. Before she knew it, someone was pulling her off of Tiffany and she was being dragged towards the principal's office._

Carly was in tears by the time she finished her story. "It's like they don't even care that my best friend is dead!" she wailed. Spike reached over and took her hand. While he didn't fully agree with what she did, he understood. He knew that if someone said those things about him and Lew, he would have been less than gracious. The only difference between him and Carly in this situation is that he would have had a gun.

"I understand." Mr. Pierce consoled as he finished making a few notes on his clipboard. Carly looked up at him, completely confused. Did she just hear him correctly? Did he just tell her that he understood?

"While I was originally going to suspend you, I'm not going to." Mr. Pierce continued. "I can tell that you're being honest, and based on your previous records, not only here but at your previous school, I see no other instances of violence or fighting, or any bad behavior for that matter. What I am going to do is give you an excused absence for the rest of this week. Take the rest of today, Thursday, and Friday off to recover, and we'll see you back on Monday."

This seemed to comfort Carly as she simply nodded and sniffled, calming down a little bit (even though she wasn't sobbing before).

"What's going to happen to the other girls involved?" Spike asked.

"I am going to talk to them about what happened as well as bring their parents in on the situation. Unfortunately, I don't think there's much I can do other than maybe give them all a lunch detention." he said, putting his glasses back on.

Spike wasn't happy with this, but he knew that the principal was right. If Carly hadn't fought with them, he could have probably done more, but since she reacted in the way that she did, he couldn't punish the others more than her, and she wasn't even getting punished at all.

Spike nodded and rose, pulling Carly up with him. They said their goodbyes and walked out together.

Spike walked with Carly to her locker to gather her things before they went home. Spike saw Landon approaching them out of the corner of his eye.

"Carly! I heard what happened. Are you okay?" Landon asked as he hugged Carly. Spike walked ahead a few steps to give them some privacy.

Spike watched them hug goodbye and Carly came alongside Spike again, taking his hand as they walked out to the car to go home. On the way home, no words were exchanged. Nothing was said. As soon as they got home, Carly went upstairs, dropped her backpack, grabbed her bathrobe, and got in the shower, letting the hot water run over her body.

Spike noticed that when Carly was upset, she sometimes took a shower. He was guessing that it was because her tears were immediately washed away there, knowing that Carly didn't like crying and tried to avoid it at all costs. No one would ever know this, though, because it seems like all she's been doing in the past couple of months was cry, much to Carly's dismay.

When Carly emerged a little while later, she was wearing one of Spike's t-shirts and baggy sweatpants… another red flag. She wore Spike's t-shirts when she was really upset and wanted comfort, namely, from him. Spike had only ever heard about her wearing his shirts; he had never actually seen her wear them. Sometimes if he had an overnight shift and Carly was staying with his parents, his Mom would tell him how Carly would sleep in one of his t-shirts and would sleep in his old bedroom rather than her own. He guessed Carly did that because she wanted to feel close to him and was upset that he wasn't there to tuck her in like he always did.

Spike beckoned her over to the couch where she sat next to him, a little wary at first, not knowing if he was going to try to force her to talk about it more. Even though she didn't want to talk, she was still comfortable enough to just sit with him, so she did.

Spike grabbed a pillow and placed it on his lap and gently cupped his hand on the nape of her neck, pulling her down so she was lying on the couch with her head on his lap. She looked at him questioningly but didn't complain or say anything. Instead, she tucked her feet on the couch and allowed her body to relax as Spike rubbed her arm.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, I'm not going to scold you. I think you know what happened and what you should have done differently. While I don't agree with what you did, I understand and know that you'll be more careful in the future." Spike reassured.

After a few moments, he spoke again. "But, what I don't understand is why you snapped today, almost a month-and-a-half after Ashley died." Spike said softly, not wanting to upset her further by bringing it up.

Carly stayed silent for a few moments after Spike said this, silent tears running down her face.

"It's Ashley's birthday today." Carly said simply. She started crying again, shaking with every quiet sob.

Spike stayed silent as he let her have her cry, now fully understanding the events that took place and why she had snapped so quickly.

"I miss her." Carly whispered a few minutes later, calming down to the occasional hiccup. Spike kept up the constant motion of his arm, trying to soothe and comfort her. He sighed with the realization that they were on a never-ending journey; one that probably had more surprises around the corner for the both of them.

* * *

**A/N: I don't actually know if there is a Toronto Private, but that's what I named Carly's school (which is located a mile from the station). **


	15. Chapter 13

**A/N: BT dubs… that last chapter wasn't supposed to be a cliffy… just in case you were wondering. **

**Disclaimer: I should probably get counseling for my Flashpoint obsession…**

* * *

Chapter 13

From the moment that Spike decided to officially adopt Carly, he became apprehensive of the day when he would start going on dates again. He hoped that Carly would be okay with it, and perhaps even support him on the idea. The one thing that he was afraid of is that she would feel jealous of Spike's spending time with someone else, which is something that he had observed when he was a teenager. One of his friend's parents got divorced, and only a few months later, his friend's Mom started dating another man. Spike can remember conversations with his friend about his feeling of anger and jealousy towards his Mom's boyfriend, and that was the last thing that he wanted to happen to Carly.

Spike planned on bringing it up with Carly in the confined comfort of his truck. This had become a ritual for them. Anytime Spike wanted to talk about something important to Carly, he would take her for a drive. The same was true for Carly: if she needed to talk to Spike about something that was on her mind, she would almost always bring it up when they were in the truck on their way somewhere.

Spike was currently standing outside her school doors, waiting for her to come out for the end of the day. There were only a few times when he surprised her by picking her up instead of her riding the buses, and he always looked forward to her reaction.

He spotted Carly coming out of the school with two of her new friends, Paige and Brianna. They were chatting away, appearing to be having a great time together. They had become friends a few days after Carly and Tiffany fought in the cafeteria, and that was almost two months ago.

Since then, Carly had continued to talk to Greg and Spike about the things she was dealing with in regards to Ashley and Lew's deaths. She has come a long way since then and is now back to where she was emotionally before they died. Spike was very glad about this, feeling that a sense of normalcy was finally returning to their lives.

Carly looked his direction and Spike smiled and waved. Carly waved back and said goodbye to her friends. Spike met her halfway and gave her a hug.

"How was your day?" Spike asked as they got into the truck.

"It was pretty normal I guess. Nothing special happened." Carly said. She told him about a few of the rumors that were currently going around the school and how absolutely ridiculous they were. Spike chuckled at some of the things Carly mentioned. He remembered how those things spread like wildfire even in his high school days.

"So… tonight you'll be at Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner." Spike said cautiously.

"Why?" Carly asked.

"Because… I have a date tonight." Spike said, smiling slightly.

"Wait… really?" Carly said, surprised.

"Really. What… did you think that I was out of the game or something?" teased Spike, a twinkle in his eyes.

Carly just laughed softly and smiled back.

"Who are you going on a date with?" Carly inquired.

"Her name is Alyssa. I met her at the Goose a couple weeks ago." Spike replied.

"Oh… a bar. That's a real fantastic place to pick up women." Carly said sarcastically. Spike gave her a disapproving look as they pulled in front of the house.

"I'm just kidding, Dad. If you like her, then I'm happy for you." she said honestly.

Truth is, Carly worried about Spike sometimes (and not just for the obvious reasons with his high-risk job). She didn't want Spike to think that he had to be home all the time if he wasn't working. She wanted him to go on dates again, since he put that on hold after he took in a traumatized teenager.

"Glad you approve." Spike said with a slight smile on his face.

* * *

"No, Grandma, you don't have to buy me more stuff." Carly scolded. Michelina had taken her out shopping after dinner and was currently trying to convince Carly to let her buy some new clothes.

What Michelina didn't seem to understand is that Carly already had _more _than enough stuff. Just last week, Carly and Spike went through her dresser and closet and got rid of some of the clothes that she hasn't worn in a while.

"You just got rid of a lot of clothes, honey. You need to replace that which was lost." she reasoned. Carly finally gave in because she didn't see any way around it.

Carly knew that Michelina took great pride in spoiling her completely rotten. Carly was the only grandchild that lived nearby; all her other grandchildren lived in Italy with the rest of their family, which is why Michelina went all-out for Carly.

After getting several more outfits, they made their way back to Carly's home. When she arrived, she noticed that Spike was home.

Unlocking the front door, Carly and Michelina made their way in the front door, arms full of the bags of clothing for Carly.

"We're home!" Carly yelled. Spike came around the corner and greeted them.

Carly could tell that the date had, indeed, gone very well just by the way Spike was acting. She could tell that he really liked this girl, and she was happy for him.

"How was your hot date?" Carly asked, playfully punching him in the shoulder after handing him some of her bags.

"It was… great." Spike said with a boyish grin on his face.

After dropping the bags in Carly's room, they returned downstairs. Michelina said that she was going to head back home, and after saying their goodbyes, they settled in front of the TV to watch the last period of the hockey game.

They were down 3-1, and Carly sincerely hoped that their team won on the grounds that she didn't want to put a damper on Spike's good mood.

He had been through a lot in the past few months; they both had. Carly went through much because of her abuse trauma, losing Lew, then Ashley. Spike had a rough past few months because he was the main one dealing with the fallout for when all those traumatic things happened to Carly.

He was the one the helped conquer her fears of Spike leaving for work by reassuring her that everything was going to be okay.

He was the one that helped calm her down after her reoccurring, horrifying nightmares by coaxing her back to sleep.

He was the one that helped motivate her to continue to do well on her schoolwork when her grades started slipping after Ashley died.

He was the one that was a constant source of love, encouragement, and direction.

….it had to be exhausting.

So, for _his _sake, she hoped that his team won. She hadn't seen him in this good of a mood since before Lew died…

After they tied it up at the end of the third, they ended up winning in a shootout.

"So… when do I get to meet her?" Carly inquired.

Spike grabbed their dishes and walked in to the kitchen to put them in the sink. He put both hands on the edge of the sink and leaned on them, thinking about Carly's question.

"Maybe when… _if_ it turns in to something serious." Spike replied. "I don't want you to get attached to her or something, and then the relationship end up not working out. I fear that would just complicate things."

Carly was bummed, sure. But, she also understood his reasoning. So, she nodded.

* * *

"Can you tell me a story?" Carly asked when Spike came in to tuck her in.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" Spike asked.

"Nah. I'm on track to still get a good eight hours."

Spike sat on the edge of the bed facing Carly.

"Once upon a time," Spike started, "there was this little girl who didn't get enough sleep at night…"

"Okay, okay. I get it. Goodnight, Dad." Carly said, interrupting him. She was, in fact, trying to prolong the amount of time until she went to sleep. Usually she welcomes the peacefulness that sleep brings, but tonight she wanted to stay up with Spike a little longer.

Spike pulled the covers up to her neck and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"Goodnight, kiddo." he said as he left the room.

* * *

**A/N: I'll probably get one more chapter in before I start my 50hr/week job in a little over a week. After that, updates will probably be a little slower because I'll be really busy. Blessings!**


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